


Atonement For Loneliness

by RijuRambles



Series: Triforce Legends Stuff [2]
Category: Original Work, Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Angst, Found Family, Gen, Hawthorne gets what he hecking DESERVES, Hurt/Comfort, I Am So Sorry Twi, Insomnia, Lots of Angst, Mentioned Hypothermia, Pokemon Contests, Sky does contests, let Spirit be able to cry 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:40:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 25,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26755207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RijuRambles/pseuds/RijuRambles
Summary: Twilight has been on a mountain for around two years. It's around time he started learning how to live again.
Relationships: Midna / Twilight (Mentioned), Nadetta/ Eshana Callisto, Sun / Sky (Mentioned), Twilight & The Hyrule Gang, Twilight & The League Crew
Series: Triforce Legends Stuff [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1903750
Comments: 7
Kudos: 1





	1. The Strangest Feeling

**Author's Note:**

> HI AND WELCOME TO I HURT THE BOY: CHRONICLES  
> my first actual TL fic on here and we're going in headfirst.  
> I typed this already in an amino draft but it got so long that I couldn't be bothered to go back and italicize everything, so yeah, words in / / are supposed to be italics but I'm lazy

In case you didn't heed the tags ;

Content Warnings For - mentions of trauma, insomnia, abuse, and slight depression. If you are sensitive to these things either proceed with caution or don't read! There will also be lots of angst. You've been warned!

I wrote the start of this a while ago, so if the chapters get better writing later on, that's why.

🍂

It was so /odd/ walking down stairs again. 

It wasn't that he didn't know how, it had just been so /long/. What was the soft crunch of snow under his feet was now creaking wood, what was howling, icy winds became a soft whirr of the fan above his head,and what was rocky stone walls was now flat and square with lilac paint. And most confusing of all, it was /warm/. His clothes were /dry/ and the cloth actually provided heat like its original purpose. He could feel things. His hand was on the railing and his fingers were picking up stimuli about how it was smooth and durable and /gosh/, it wasn't numb anymore? 

He hardly noticed that his legs were moving downward because it isn't silent anymore. There's talking and laughing and the barking of Nadetta's snubbull, and there's a pan sizzling and it isn't nothingness anymore. And when it wasn't silent before, it was the howling winds of a snowstorm and the cold puffs of vapor that were his breaths and the billowing of his jacket in the gusts. What truly is baffling though, is that he isn't alone. Or at least, /alone/ as in the only human being for miles.

“Good morning, Twi!”

And that voice. One of the many he'd "talked" with during his stay on Mount Lanayru ( or, heard - but they weren't calling out , he just desperately wanted to think they were ) and one of the thousands of echoes reverberating through his mind. He blinks, head processing this new place. It wasn't new. He'd just been away from home for so long that he forgot what his home was.

"Ah- hi." He makes a shy wave, forcing himself to speak. His voice is quiet and somewhat weak from disuse, but it's there and that's all that seems to matter to his friends. "Guess what?! It's time for... SMILEY BACON!!" Carly picked up a plate and held it up into the air, clearly all too excited by the prospect of a funny face on her breakfast. There's an awkward pause. Carly clears her throat. "ahem.... Smiley bacon!!!" She repeats with equal enthusiasm. "Quill, you're supposed to be excited!" Carly huffs, prodding the boy beside her.

"Carly. I can't tell if he's laughing or sobbing. H e l p." He whispers back. "Shindizzle - it's /both/." Her jaw drops. Twilight has visibly failed at his attempt at walking in normally and instantly fallen over, supporting himself on the railing. His chest is bobbing like he's laughing but there's also a hitch in his breath, and Twilight raises his head with an expression that says it all. He's touched. Thank you.

"Uh oh. We've activated dorky twi too early into the morning!" She teased, instantly followed up by her own dumb giggle. "Shush. He's still confused by being at sea level." Carly heard her mother above her, and crossed her arms, placing the plate back on the table. Twilight's faced cleared up to spout out the reply of "I'm fine, Nadetta," which was a lie, but none of them seemed to pick up on it. "Fine" for Twilight was a constantly changing variable, and most of them knew that very well. "You're not fine until you've gotten the most important meal of the day!" Carly insisted, running up to grab Twi by the arm, and while physically unable to move him, he complied with the tug anyways.

Quill was having some sort of hopeless argument with Carly about how dinner is actually the most important meal of the day as he sat down at the table, but the room went silent when Twilight tried to speak. Everyone had been like this ; calm, compassionate, and they were all being exceptional listeners to him. "It's been odd , coming down here, I'll admit..." He sighed. "But... I don't think I can ever make it up to you guys. No one except friends as close as you would even think to go up a freezing mountain to save someone..." Twilight shook his head. "You have nothing to be sorry about. We aren't - weren't ever mad at you." Quill nodded.

Twilight swore that was a lie. There was determinedness in Carly coming up there, and compassion, and concern, but rage was one emotion clearly present. There was no way she had just stood idly as Quill had told her about where he'd been. There was no way Quill hadn't faced frustration keeping the secret for so long. There was a certain /anger/, something he knew would happen when he left, and he knew that it would secretly lie in wait - a grudge, perhaps, for causing so many problems in their lives. He was sure that the older inhabitants of his hometown had been instantly outraged to hear it - and /arceus/, he couldn't bear the thought of /Rusl/, his father of all people, hating him inside.

The guilt of living with past memories was very prominent, but that was a risk Twilight was willing to take in an attempt to save himself from losing sanity to isolation. And Arceus knows he can't handle this either, but something is telling him that he will recover, and that he will be back to normal again, whatever /normal/ is. He wants to stay quiet and unnoticed by few, but loved and trusted, and he wants to be happy most of all. He wants to have a normal life, with normal people, and go through happiness and sadness and anger without having to worry about /everything/ and /everyone/, even if he knows that is impossible. A small, young, weak, soft part of him tells him that it /is/ possible, and that he will figure out some way to be happy with himself someday. 

He really, really hopes that this dim light at the back of his mind is telling him the truth, because he's sick and tired of being lied to.

"Mm." He nodded, as if having not listened to the rest of his sentence. He didn't mean to do it, it was a certain darkness that had built up in him over his years journeying across Hyrule, and one that acted like /Luto/, which wasn't exactly the most desirable person to be around. At least the white noise of his mind over shadowed all the sarcasm and rudeness, which simply showed a /blank/ Twilight. He wasn't disinterested, but wasn't excited either. It was an awkward grey area that he himself had only begun to understand.

"So," Carly's mouth was full of the omelette she was having but managed to speak anyways ( which Quill found magical-), "whadda you wanna do, buddy??" She was clearly eager for his response, and he knew she would try to make litterally anything he threw out work. Perhaps they'd fish for water types around the docks, ride across the fields of the ranch on the mountable inhabitants, spend hours lost in the wonders of the woods that they should know by the back of their hands, or roll down the hills until their hair was an unrecognizable mess. Maybe they'd let Opal ( Carly's Glaceon ) help fix some ice cream and walk around for the day, and maybe they'd go around reuniting with old friends, or -

"Don't know."

All of it. He had no idea, absolutely no idea. Too many possibilities. And too many ways they could go horribly, /horribly/ wrong and he'd mess up everything again. "...." Carly went silent, holding onto her hair on her shoulder. Now that's an oddity, a quiet Carly. 

Shoot.

He'd ruined it, hadn't he? Had only been here for less than twelve hours and was already screwing it up? Twilight blinked, turning to Quill. He was rubbing the fluff on his sleeve, looking up at Carly, concerned. Shoot. Shoot shoot Frick - he ruined it. She had been hoping to do something. Something fun, and it wouldn't ever go wrong, because they were there. If Luto tried to intrude Quill could handle it. If their ice cream melted, Opal could always make more. The Gogoat weren't going anywhere, they'd been trained not to leave the ranch. If they got pulled into the water, they knew how to swim. If they couldn't catch anything, they could try again.

Those terribly wrong possibilities - weren't possible. Because they were there and they cared. Shoot. Oh, oh no. He /ruined/ it again. "....Okay...we don't have to-" - he ran. He was sure he was being a burden, a killjoy, they'd be better off without him. The door flung open and he was running down the stairs and holding onto his hat so it wouldn't fly away in the wind, and there were houses, and then fields, and finally, forests. 

————

"No! Wait!" Carly was the first to protest. She slid off the barstool instantly and dashed after him. She tried to grasp at his jacket - no, dangit, too fast! She coughed, no, wheezed, - bad idea, running without having taken her preventive inhaler already. Carly panted, and Quill ran too, but Nadetta was the first to make it to her. Maternal instincts, he guessed. "Hey, hey, kid? Sweetie? You alright? You can breathe, right?!" She placed a hand on her shoulder, squatting down. Quill had grabbed some water, hoping to help too.

" 'm F-fine! Not...ugh...important! He's gonna... get away!!" She placed a hand on her chest, catching her breath. "Take this first," Nadetta held out her inhaler, and Carly stuck in her mouth, not bothering to use it, but instead using her newly opened hands to throw out two pokeballs. "Roxy! 'Mmin' with me!" She shouted, half-able to pronounce 'coming', and Starraptor, the other one, just knew what to do already. Find him, that was obvious enough.

She hopped onto her companion, sprinting off to recover her friend. "No- you forgot- the... water...." Nadetta sighed in defeat. She'd just have to deal with the dry mouth afterwards. "I'm so sorry about this, Nads - but - gotta go!" Quill handed her the cup. "Arcane, help me out!" He tossed out a pokeball, climbing onto Arcanine and heading out. "Arceus... It's already a handful having Carly, and now this..." She huffed, placing the cup back inside. "Might as well," Nadetta shrugged, letting out a shrill whistle. "Now THERE'S Amber when you need her!" She chuckled, petting the Dusk form Lycanroc. "Whadda say about a run?" 

————

Where was he, again?

When running off in a random direction to get away from something ( he hated to admit, but also /someone/, people, that is - ) , it is probably a useful thing to have grown up in the area. He met that exact criteria, and yet, still had no idea where he was. There's trees - oh, astounding observation - and quiet mist on the ground and the morning dew is still visible on the grass. Lost Woods? Probably.

Thing is - it's the /lost/ woods, not the easy to navigate woods. He'd been in here thousands of times, so he should have known where he was going, right? Incorrect. The thing about it is , you're /not/ supposed to go in there, that's what he should have known from it. There's a high probability of getting - well, lost, but also very, very confused. 

Not to mention he needed to breathe. He'd adjusted to having little air back on Mount Lanayru (which he could see a little above the treetops, accursed mountain..) but this was because of exercise, which was new. Water. That's another thing, but it could wait. Twilight was able to catch his breath pretty quickly, which is unusual due to the fact that he just bolted across the entire town. He dusted himself off, having not paid attention to all the leaves he'd gotten on him. Great. This was just...great.

Twilight sighed. Spur of the moment reaction, and he regretted it almost the instant he'd stopped running. But he couldn't just go back. That'd be awkward. Oh, and Carly. She'd probably be /pissed/. Needless to say, she had a few anger issues, which were being controlled quite nicely until Quill dropped the bomb of him being missing for a few years. Quill would hide it better, but he'd be angry too, he thought, and Nadetta? He didn't even know about her. Being unpredictable is genetic, apparently.

What was he thinking? He gained a headache just trying to answer it. He hadn't been thinking. That was subconscious, really. Any reasonable train of thought would have said to just apologize, and maybe ask Quill what he wants to do, and then go about doing whatever that was. Being reasonable was his strong suit. Keyword /was/, apparently. Twilight put a hand on his forehead, the headache had been getting stronger at this point.

He stared up through the leaves. It was a small clearing, so he could see a bit out of the forest. The only things visible were the Hyrule Region's great mountains, which just made him feel more pitiful. And there was a quiet urge, a part of him that just wanted to run away again. Escape again. He hadn't noticed that his feet had been moving a little ways towards it, or at least not until Stella came out on her own to stop him. That was a hard ‘no’ from Stoutland.

"Thanks, Stella...." He made a weak smile. "I guess I have you to thank for keeping me from causing more problems..." Twilight chuckled softly. "I just... Don't really know what's keeping me from being happy - I mean, I have everything I wanted and it's actually the right things this time - what c-can I do?" "Well, you could - huff - start by not running away every morning before I've taken my inhaler?" 

Oh. Carly is /right/ behind him. If that doesn't activate his fight or flight response then he don't know what will.

Twilight nearly falls into the wall of fluff behind him, Carly is clearly deficient in air, and the whole situation is going downhill fast. "How did you -" "Uh, I'm sorry? You thought you could out run a former track athlete?" Carly crosses her arms and /how/ did he not think of that before he asked, stupid stupid - "Quill's behind me, at least I think. He's kinda slow." She shurgs.

"...So you're not gonna.. Uh, yell at me or anything? No ranting this time?" Twilight almost looks like he /expects/ that to happen which makes Carly angry in of itself. 

"Wh - no! Why would I ever yell at you?!" Carly nearly stumbles off her feet at that. "But you have every right to! I mean, I just ran off for no reason and nearly caused you an asthma attack!" He's a bit shocked too. "Okay, yeah, well maybe I do but I'm not /going/ to! You're already a nervous wreck, I'm not gonna /add/ to the pile of emotional baggage?!" She waves her hands around. "Besides I already yelled at you much more than needed back up...well, uh, there, I guess." Carly motions to the mountains behind them.

"By the way, sorry about that. I really lost my temper," She rubs the back of her neck. "What? Why are you apologizing?" He blinks, confused. Carly has nothing to be sorry for - she's always been the sun of the friend group, she hardly ever passes up a chance to be helpful - heck, he doesn't even really deserve to be down here with them. He's only messing things up, anyways.

"....because I did a bad thing and I regret the thing that I did? Isn't that what you're /supposed/ to do when you feel bad about something??" She squints. If that's the case, which it is, then he still has a /lot/ of apologies to make. "Uh - yes. But I'm the one who's supposed to be sorry for all of this? Didn't I -" "Twi, you nearly bawled your eyes out trying to tell me you were sorry back there. I'm pretty sure even Luto feels a bit bad for you... you just looked so - pitiful. I think anyone would've told you that it was okay," Carly puts a hand on his shoulder.

"So when Quill said that you guys weren't mad at me, you were -" "You thought he was lying?" Carly blinks. Ah, guilt. There it comes. "N-no!!" He puts his hands up in defense. "I've learned to tell when people aren't telling the truth, but you? Gosh, even Mama Nadetta could tell that was a lie!"

Here we go again. He's going to remember that even if he doesn't want to.

"Ah. Uhm. Yeah. I- I ....I guess I did." Twilight stiffens, pulling both arms closer to his chest in a defensive position. Like they were going to attack him. "..You shouldn't have to be so scared of me. Of...us, I think. You've got your entire hometown on your back, I'm pretty sure." Carly isn't sad, just concerned. Boy that's good to hear. "Do you think Rusl would - uh - let me talk to him sometime?" He blinks. "Dude. He's your /dad/, that's his hecking job." Okay, /now/ Carly is sad.

"Oh. I suppose so." He looks off to the side. "Yo, what's your deal with hypervigilance and shindizzle??" She taps his shoulder and /that/ definitely snaps him back to the conversation. "Hyper - vigilance??" Twilight's never heard of the term before. "Yknow, when you're constantly checking on things? Worried that people are out to get ya? Being careful with what you say and do?" She says that so calmly, and holy /heck/ she put it in /words/. She gave the feeling a name. Woah.

"Uhm - I - I presume I experience it quite frequently, yes." He's so gosh darn confused, not even sure where this conversation is going at this point. Which sure throws off his sense of stability. ".....that....really shouldn't be what's going on. Uh, are you okay?" Carly gives him this /look/ that almost looks like Rusl for a second. "I...I don't think so." Twilight shakes his head.

"That's an exhausting state to be in," and he feels like Carly would add 'I would know', if it wouldn't worry him to death. "Mmhm." He shakily nods his head. "I was - more tired than ever, but I couldn't sleep at all." "Wait, you didn't sleep either? How long?!" Carly nearly falls off her seat. "I believe my record is... Four days? Sorry, they kinda blend together after a while -" "FOUR DAYS??!" Carly is absolutely bewildered.

"Oh, oh gosh, that's not good! Are you okay!? Do you have any symptoms of burnout or - or-" She's panicking. She's panicking and he caused this. "Woah, woah, that was months ago - I've got decent sleep in the last couple weeks up there, surprisingly." Twilight tries to calm her down. It's not working. "The bags under your eyes say otherwise!!" Carly throws her hands up into the air. Wait, he still has those? He thought they went away after he got two long nights of sleep - more like a day and half nap, really. 

"Uh - anyways - I'm better now, I think." That's a /horrible/ defense and he knows it, but what is he gonna say, Carly's experiencing a possible sensory overload and it's not like he's doing great with translating all her body language, either. "Heck, I sure /hope/ so!" She sighs. 

"You know you can talk to us about anything, okay? Even the hard stuff. I'm not some little kid anymore... I can handle it." Carly smiles softly. "....Yes. Thank you." He smiles back. Maybe being back at sea level isn't so bad? "We should probably get back to Quill and the others..." She dusted herself off, standing up. "Oh, uh yeah. Gonna be hard to explain this one though..." Twilight sighed. "They'll understand. I know so." Carly nodded.

"You sure?" "I /just/ said that I /know/ so."

————

It must be strange that a snow comes this early into fall, but he wakes up to white flakes covering the ground.

Twilight has decided to stay at Carly's house for the time being. It's certainly... Brighter than he expected, but it'll have to do. At least, until he works up the courage to head to the ranch. He's been told that Rusl is in Skyloft for the time being, perhaps catching up with the third elite four. Sky is certainly a good friend. He doesn't know when he'll be back though, so he needs to start pulling himself together. Two days have passed, and he's still quite shaky.

Carly's house is...big. Two stories. Of course, he's been here before, but it has been nearly four years since his last visit. His room is actually more of the living room, but the couch is large enough to function as a bed anyways. It's not like he isn't used to unusual places to sleep. 

Twilight seems to forget that his dresser is in his own house. Oops. Guess he'll be stuck in this old jacket for a while longer. He doesn't mind, though. 

Carly nearly trips down the stairs. Well, from what he can see. You kind of have to go through Ms and Missus Callisto's room to get through there. "Good morning, Hyrule!!" She stretches, stepping through the door. "Dang, you're up early. It's like 7." Carly blinks, moving to make her way into the kitchen. "It's supposed to be? I always do this." Twilight sits up straight again. "Eh. You're werid." 

"Is your mother - uh - mothers - sorry - I-" "It's okay. People get em mixed up a lot." Carly shouts back. "And no, they're not up yet." 

She returns with a bag of frosted flakes. Not a bowl. A bag. The /whole/ bag. No milk or anything. She eats dry cereal and she's calling /him/ weird? "What the heck are you wearing?" Carly flops down onto the couch beside him. Well - she's wearing some sort of sweater, and he still has his jacket, they're both wearing layers - what's the problem? "Uh, what I usually wear?" Twilight blinks. "It's been cold for the past week." "I'm aware." "You're wearing a light jacket." "So?" "Dude. It's below freezing, according to the forecast. You're gonna turn into a popsicle." Carly stares at him.

"I was completely fine with just this /before/ -" "Yeah, when you had no sense of self preservation!" She squints. 

Carly sighs, rolling her eyes. "Look, you should just ask Quill for something before you go outside, okay?" She glares at him slightly. "But he's got a larger size..." Twilight looked confused. "Better than nothing," Carly rubs at her temple. He nearly freezes up as he hears the front door open - shoot, what if he's back already? - but Carly has the opposite reaction. "Mom!" She shoots up from her seat to run over and hug the figure.

"Ah - good morning, honey." Eshana. That's who it is. Whew. "You're never gonna guess who's here!" Carly motions over to Twilight, who realizes that she's been absent the whole time he's been here. Uh, what is he supposed to say? They talked about - uh - a year and a half ago? He doesn't really know how much time had actually passed up there. "You - wait - he went down?" Eshana is reasonably confused. After all, didn't he /openly refuse/ the first time?

"Hi?" Twilight can admit it, he's nervous. "Oh, yeah. I kinda battled him." "Kinda?" "Well, uhm, I mean - it was - you should just talk to him about it." Carly was definitely having a hard time explaining. 

"I'm just glad you're okay," Eshana sighs, holding her daughter's hand. "Oh, and you're back early!" Carly blinks, realizing the change in scedhule. Early? By her reaction, she's been away for a few weeks at the least.... he sure hopes that it's not more! "Huh?" Twilight closes up the bag. She's pretty much given up eating it. "Ah, you see - I was headed to the League to meet with Spirit. Something about a fossil? I was hoping that I'd come across you there, since I missed your in person match." 

"You missed the League title match?" He's concerned. Carly is her daughter, after all, and that's a big moment, considering that she actually /won/. Well, she won against Past, Time, Sky, Spirit, /and/ Windy. He did the same, but the fact that Windy managed to succeed Past despite his skill not deteriorating is impressive. The only reason they tied is because Twilight kept training up there... he suspects that Carly would've won if not for him managing to bond further with Houndoom. 

"Well, I was pretty booked that week. I had taken on a lot of work before - I didn't even know that she was preparing to take the League Challenge until Zelda actually told me. She insisted on taking care of the research herself so that I could watch it live. Though, I regret not being in the crowd for it...." Eshana's face drops slightly. "Aww, it's okay! Twi wasn't either, and he had a terrible WiFi up there..." Carly insists, patting her back. 

"You got /signal/ that high up??" The scientist blinks. "I actually headed further down for a bit to try and find one. It was super slow, though. I even called Quill that morning." Twilight chuckles a bit, although anxious. 

"Well, when I watched my daughter become Champion and then heard that the league members were staying here for a bit... I figured I would just stop by anyways." Eshana smiles. "Wait, the guys are /here/?" He nearly falls off the couch. They didn't just head back afterwards? But he hasn't seen them anywhere! "Yeah, Windy and Spirit are staying at Quill's place, I think Sky and Time are at your house, and Past is - uh....I'm not sure. Maybe he's at the lab?" Carly explains. Oh. Right. He's hardly even left Carly's house.

"I actually found him camping on my way here." Eshana giggles. "You're kidding." Twilight blinks. "I always knew he was adventurous, but this? Even when there's spare rooms - heck, he could even stay with Luto!" Carly is startled too. "I don't think that's a good idea." Twilight has - /concerns/ about Luto's family. He's never been to his house before, and probably for the better.

"Oh, you mean Hawthorne? He's in court." Carly nods. "He's whAT?!" Gosh, today is full of surprises. He'd always known Luto's dad wasn't the greatest, but heck, what'd he do to end up in the courtroom?! He didn't - try to - do anything to - hmm...

"Luto was in questioning for a few days, too." She explains. "Wh- why?! He's like - thirteen! What did he do that would - huh?" The way that she's being so calm about this is unnerving. "You haven't told him?" Eshana blinks, confused. "Tell me what?!" Twilight stands up at that. He's almost sweating bullets. "Oh! Uh, yeah! Sorry. I forgot to mention it since we were all caught up in the whole Mt.Lanayru thing. I'm not sure exactly how to say this without giving you a coronary, but uh - Luto /may/ have joined Team Power for a bit. As an admin." Carly rubs the back of her neck.

Twilight's face drops into an all too familiar shade of white. "Those bastards are BACK?!" Before he even knows it, he's reaching for Stella, Rapidash and Braviary's pokeballs, those are the ones who did the most battling against them back them - and he almost starts to run towards the door, if only stopping because he doesn't know /where/ they are. "Woah, woah! Calm down!" Carly's hands go up in defense. "How am I supposed to be CALM?! I spent weeks of my life taking those guys down, sleepless nights tracking leads - why didn't you tell me sooner?!" He takes the time to locate Samurott, Tauros, and Houndoom.

"Hold on. There's no need - Carly took them down herself. I'm sure they've been handed over to the authorities." Eshana blocks the door, explaining. "Please don't tell me they caused you trouble as well..." He sighs, simply placing them on his belt instead. "Well, I hadn't even heard of them before I set out. They were attacking Zelda on my first day, though. I think they were much bigger than before." Carly nods. 

"How did they even reform? Me and Midna arrested Zant ourselves!" Twilight looks between the two. "Hey, I don't know! I'm not even sure how he got roped into all that anyways!" Carly defends. The fact that Luto managed to become an admin, though, is ...troubling. He didn't even think that Luto had that much battling prowess to begin with. Though, being good in a fistfight doesn't seem like it'd detract his chances of excelling in a criminal organization.

"You look disturbed," Eshana points out, with Carly adding a quick "/just/ disturbed?" under her breath. "I don't know why you're still letting him hang around here, then," Twilight rubs at his temple. "...don't let this make you hate him," Carly adds slowly. "Huh?" "I can tell. You're trusting him even less." "Why wouldn't I?" "I know. But - he's changed now. He's still a jerk, but - he's not /evil/."

Well, he certainly wasn't calling him evil, but he'd at least gone down a few ranks. And...why exactly was Hawthorne in court? "Luto was in the juvenile detention center for a few weeks. Since then, he's kinda been - scared of us. Like we're gonna hurt him or send him back there or something." She sighs. "What about his father?" He asks, looking up.

"Charged with several counts of abuse," Eshana confirms reluctantly. "I think we all knew it, but we were too scared to confront him about it back then." She finally takes off her lab coat. "And the prosecution?" Twilight has this strange feeling that he needs to investigate this more. "I'm not entirely sure, but I think it's a friend of Midna's. Midna herself will probably function as co-counsel for them." Eshana adjusts her glasses.

"That's good." He smiles a bit. "Hm?" Carly sits back down next to him. "Midna is - a dedicated person. She'll find the truth." Twilight chuckles. "Are you blushing?" She has the /widest/ smirk on her face. "Not a chance," and okay, that's a /decent/ lie, but it needs work.

He can almost swear he hears Eshana laughing behind him, but that's probably just because she sees Nadetta enter and her wife turns /beet red/ before running up to greet her.

"Your hands are cold!" She pouts. "Yours are burning hot!" Eshana raises an eyebrow. "Together, they maintain the optimal tempature for hand holding," Carly smirks. "I'm pretty sure that's just because it's snowing outside." He squints. "WAIT, REALLY?!" And here he thought Carly was the ultimate person to sense snow. She basically waited all year to go and play in it. Twilight can't say he shares the sentiment after /living/ in it, but it's not exactly the cold that bothers him. He can't ever seem to put his finger on it.

"Yeah? I'm pretty sure it's been going for a few hours now." He blinks, confused. "Damn my short attention span!! I thought I heard the weatherman saying something about it, but mama Eshana distracted us," Carly slaps her knee. "You're probably gonna go out as soon as possible, huh?" Nadetta chuckles. "The preparations have already been made! I don't even think we've cleaned off my jackets from when I -" she stops herself. Twilight is /right/ there.

"When you what?" He picks up the remote. "When I...uhm, uh, went up. And got you." Carly continues, though nervously. "Guys, you don't have to avoid talking about it." Twilight leans back up against the couch. "Oh. I just - figured it was kind of a touchy subject..." She rubs the back of her neck. "It is. But I'm fine. It doesn't matter how hard it was to get there, no?" He crosses his arms. Everyone just kind of - stares. What? Did he say something wrong? Is there something on his face?

"You could have /died/, Twilight. I thought that would be - important. For you." Carly doesn't make eye contact and /Frick/ that probably means he /did/ say something wrong. He notices that she used his actual name - is that bad or good? 

His mind rushes through the conversation again. Where - where did he go wrong? He doesn't remember doing anything! Unless he doesn't know some sort of trigger for her? Uh oh. Then he realizes it. The problem is that he didn't do /anything/. That's why he couldn't figure it out. And he also realizes that he's done this before, back on his first day here. He just - brushed their concern off. Like he didn't care.

B-but....he /cares/.

Arceus above, he knows that he cares. That's the one thing that he does far too much of! It's the exact reason why he has to be mindful of everything he does! Gosh, he's so stupid - how did he not realize that eariler?! Twilight /knows/ that everything Carly does has so much passion - and that's why she gets sad when people don't notice her. She puts everything into everything!

Tears are welling up and he doesn't know /why/. He shouldn't be crying, they're gonna worry about him if he does and he really doesn't want that - oh, Quill opens the door. "Is this a bad time....?" The fluffy haired boy looks between the three. "No, no, it's okay. I mean, time is a social construct, so -" Carly goes on one of those philosophical rants that makes everyone question their place in the universe. Nadetta is kind enough to cut her off before she can do much damage to his psyche.

Quill takes off his hood, revealing that yes, his hair /is/ a porcupine disaster, and /no/ that's not just the fur coating inside. "I was wondering when she was gonna come outside. It's a wonder she didn't make me up herself," He yawns, stretching. "I was only letting ya get a nap in!" Carly finally breaks her awkwardly silence. "I'm /supposed/ to get up at 8:30," "Why are all boys so fixated on getting up early?" 

Their conversation gives Twilight enough time to suck it up before they try to contact him again. Suppressing emotions isn't healthy and he /knows/ that it isn't, but it's such a habit that they can pry it from his cold dead hands. Quill sits down next, and he scoots over a bit so Carly can sit next to him. He has no idea how they can afford such big couches. Besides, there's only three people living here, and one of them isn't even /at/ the house most of the time. This thing could fit nearly the whole League crew on it!

"Are you guys gonna head outside?" Twilight asks, looking over. "Probably. You?" Quill nods. "Nah. I think I've seen enough snow," he shrugs, and /heck/ he's doing it again but they don't seem to really notice. "Same. It keeps getting in my glasses. Highly impractical," Eshana comments. "Impractical as in, you want to put our snow-women next to eachother? Just kidding." Nadetta smirks. "....unless?" Carly adds, almost full on cackling as soon as Eshana freezes up.

"T-that is a possibility, yes, and I think I may enjoy it." She adjusts her glasses again, probably to distract everyone from the fact that her wife keeps embarrassing her in public.

"Dangit, stop flirting in public! Y'all are gonna make us question our romantic orientations!" Carly giggles. "That's cute," Quill smiles, rubbing onto his hoodie sleeves and accidentally shocking his hands because he made too much friction. Ah. Classic.

"You sure that you want to stay inside?" Nadetta leans against the kitchen counter. "Mhm," is his only response, and that makes everyone assume that they pressured him for /some/ reason. He's just a quiet kid. "Okay, I'll get you some blankets," She nods, going to head upstairs for the closet. Twilight feels like he probably should remind her that there are already two on the couch and that he'll be fine with just those, but then again, he /has/ been pretty much neglecting his physical wellbeing for a few years, so he can't blame her.

"I'm gonna get ready!" Carly follows her mom. Quill reaches over to hug him, but he's still somewhat touch averse so he just kind of awkwardly places his arm over his shoulder. It also doesn't help that Twilight is still taller than him. There's less gravity on Mount Lanayru, apparently. 

"You do remember how the remote works, right?" Eshana looks up from her binder for a moment. "Yes," he sighs, even though he probably /does/ need a refresher course on some of the household items. It's a wonder he even remembered the channel acronyms. "Man, you're quick! I would've taken a whole day to figure that out again I'd I were you." Quill blinks. "When I could get signal, I watched a lot of matches on my pokegear. That's how I kept up with Carly's gym badges." He nods. Those were /so/ much fun to watch whenever they came on. And it's how he was able to combat her team so easily. 

Seriously, did she expect the Champion of the Pokemon League to not do his research? Oh, right. Uhm. He's /not/ the Champion anymore. Carly technically won that match by taking him down here. Don't know how that will work out with everyone at the Castle.

"Wow. Neat," he nods, moving to adjust his hair again. Twilight has no idea how Quill brushes that thing in the morning. Honestly, he probably doesn't.

"I'm reeaady!" Carly exclaims, rushing down the stairs again. She is /so/ fast, dear Arceus. "Have fun out there," Twilight waves as the duo exit. Eshana heads upstairs as Nadetta comes down, causing her to plant a kiss on her wife's cheek. Ah. Payback time for flirting earlier. "Holy heck, not in front of the kids!" Nadetta chuckles, almost stumbling off her feet. Oh, to be in love - what, no! He's not daydreaming!! You are!

"Here," she manages to hand off the blankets to him, to which he nods. Nadetta waits for her wife before heading out the door, leaving him pretty much alone. If you don't count his Pokemon. Twilight somehow becomes a blanket taco in a solid thirty seconds. You know what? Heck it. He hasn't seen a movie in two years. It's Mulan time.

Twilight /tries/ to focus on the movie, but then there's this /jerk/.

Luto. That little hecker.

Hits him with a snowball. In the back of the head. Indoors. 

Hasn't changed, mhm, yeah /right/. Tell that to the hailstone that just got yeeted onto his spinal vertebrae. 

"GOTCHA!!"

Oh, no. He hasn't got /anything/. Twilight has some /words/ to say to this man. After recovering from his injury, the brunette gets up, does /not/ pause it, stomps over, and in exact tune with the solider, glaring, he says ; "Now all of China knows you're here."

"Damn, I knew you were a nerd but -" "Out." "No." "I said /out/,"

"Listen, if you think you can seriously intimidate /me/ with that glare after all I've been through -" Luto starts, and he goes harder. "O-okay, maybe you can!" The boy in the scarf stumbles backwards. "Sheesh, you look like my dad -" He sighs, mumbling. "Mind explaining how the hell you ended up in Team Power?" Twilight seriously doesn't want to be compared to Luto's dad, but he /does/ look like a total dad right now. Disssapointment face.

"Can't we just fight with snowballs instead of words?!" Luto huffs, dodging the question. He's softened up from the last time, but still, this guy is just - completely unbearable. "No," the brunette shakes his head. "Dang it. You people and your emotional speeches and your-" "Luto." He needs to answer the question. "Okay, fine, fine!! Gosh, you get that stupid glare from Time or somethin'. But really - that's behind me now. I'm not -" "You still haven't explained yet." "Stop cutting me off, then!!"

"Look, I just got roped into it. Hilda started talking about all the great stuff they do or whatever and I got kinda interested and....sh*t, I messed up, okay! Stop talking about it!" Luto shouts, getting into that defensive stance again. Twilight probably is being a bit insensitive but he's really angry right about now.

"So you apologize?" "What do ya think I've been trying to do, dweeb?!" Ah. The nicknames. Just as fun as ever. "Shouldn't you be finishing your movie by now?" Luto crosses his arms. "I would've been if you didn't knock me upside the head!!" Twilight rubs his temple. How does Carly have so much patience with this guy?! "That was a one time thing! I'm surprised you didn't hit me back!" He chuckles a bit, and /ugh/ today is not going well. "What, do you /want/ me to?" He sighs deeply.

"No!" Luto almost looks offended. "I thought you would be outside," The boy raises an eyebrow. "If you haven't noticed, I lived on a freezing mountain for two years. Snow isn't that special after seeing it for that long!" Yup, definitely annoyed. "Yeah, but you never had snowball fights!" Luto puts his hands on his hips. "I think dodging falling hailstones the size of baseballs has severely dampened my opinion on snowball fights," Twilight throws his hands up in irritation. "Are you going to be like /this/ every winter or what?!"

"I don't know?!" He puts both hands on his head. "Dude, you need to move on." "Says the guy who's been in a bullying shtick since third grade!" Twilight fires back, and uh oh, this is just not good. There's a lot of anger piled up inside him right now and if someone provokes him then -

"It's not like it was my desicion!" "Yes it was!" "What do you mean -?!" "Guys?"

Oh. Oh heck. That's Carly.

"I-I heard yelling and... Uhm....?" She's shaking. Oh, oh no. Not good not good not good - it's not like he was already experiencing a roller coaster of emotions - no no no no - "Is everything alright?" "Yes. We're fine," Twilight replies unsteadily. "A-are you sure you're okay inside? Cau-cause I can totally -" Carly blinks. "He's a smart kid, he'll be fine alone," Luto is - /covering/ for him? What the hell??? "Let's just get back to our snowball fight, okay?" He nods, smiling. Luto walks outside with a hand on her back to help her out. 

Twilight is - confused, to say the least.

The door closes and it gives him a moment to think. He pauses the movie if only so that he can not have the big scene interrupt. He's pacing. What.../was/ that? He's never seen Luto stand up for Carly, much less himself. The most he's ever gotten was that hug back when he woke up for the first time down here. Really, this doesn't make sense. Was she right?? Well, er - actually, rephrase that. Carly is usually always right and she might be right about this but it just doesn't make sense.

Did they finally get through to Luto while he was gone? Or is he just going crazy or - hmm. This is harder than he thought. Way harder. Twilight sighs. He should probably go talk to the League before they leave, actually. He might not get to see them for a while since technically Carly is the new Champion. He's - gonna have to go outside. 

Why is he so scared to go outside, of all things?

He waits for a few minutes before opening the door. Still in the same light jacket. Shoot, it's cold. Well, of /course/ it's cold, stupid, that's why the forecast said snow. But he was just wrapped up in blankets, so he's still relatively warm. "Haven't seen this much snow /here/ in years," Twilight mumbles. Sure, he's seen a lot of it on the mountain, but down here it doesn't really snow. It's actually kind of nice. He half expected to get hit with a gust the second he stepped outside, but it's not that windy either. Oh, right, Windy! Guess he should go visit him first.

He realizes that he isn't wearing socks. Oh well. Cold feet it is. Those were slip ons anyways. They're at Quill's house, right? Hm. He hasn't been there in ages. Does he still remember where it is?? Uhm...well, he's at Carly's house, and his house is across the road and at the back, Luto's is near the lab, and uh...uh oh. He doesn't remember where it is at all. Heck.

Isn't there a map on his pokegear? Wait. He left that inside. And if he goes back now then he might get spotted... ugh. This is a stealth mission. Whoop de do. Luckily for him, he's the most mobile person here in this situation. Who knew navigating that mountain for so long would pay off? Twilight ducks beside the bench in order to get closer to the trees. He's gonna have to jump off, since he can't go down the stairs, too obvious. There's the pool in the front, covered up for the fall. Okay. So he can't go near there or he might fall in...got it.

Twilight manages to fall safely, and now that he's actually on the snow he feels a bit more - comfortable, actually. This probably shouldn't be what's happening, but it is. Maybe he can climb a tree to get a better view? Wait, no, that's stupid. If he wanted a better view he could've just stayed on the porch. 

He wishes he brought his hat - his hair is gonna be /so/ cold after this. But that's also a bit of a dead giveaway. Twilight starts to make his way over to his own house, for /some/ reason, because of /course/ he's totally prepared for the emotional baggage that's gonna come with having to ask for directions /and/ seeing his old room again! He stops himself midway after a tree drops some snow on him. Ah. This again. He's fine. Everything is - /fine/.

After climbing out and dusting himself off, he manages to /finally/ remember where Quill's hecking house is. Why did it take him that long?!? This is his hometown, gosh darn it. He's starting to sound like Luto. Twilight gets up onto the porch and knocks on the door. It doesn't occur to him that he might /also/ have some emotional baggage from seeing Quill's house too. Because of course Clover has to answer the door the same way she always does and welcome him in and offer him hot chocolate. Quill's mother is so nice, and it just serves to remind him of how Twilight doesn't have one anymore. 

Why didn't he just go to the lab, again?

He instantly gets tackle hugged by Spirit. The boy is too small to actually make him fall over but Twilight is too unbalanced to not stumble. The rest is an awkward pretzel sibling hug. "Hi." He waves to Windy if only so that he can get Spirit to /let go of his hecking arms/, but Windy just runs over and hugs him too. "Good, uh, afternoon?" Twilight has no idea what time it is, and his internal clock is failing him because of course it is. 

"You are /so/ lucky that little sis isn't here," Spirit finally pulls away, crossing his arms. "Little s- Ayrll?" Twilight is about to bonk himself over the head for forgetting Windy and Spirit's little sister's name. As if she isn't the tiniest freaking blessing in this whole region, as if he /didn't/ instantly melt upon seeing her for the first time. "Oh, she'd go on a whole tangent. We'd be here til next Sunday." Windy chuckles, and Twilight's urge to bonk himself on the head spikes again when he realizes that he doesn't know what day it is either. Gosh, he's stupid.

"G-guess I'm lucky, then?" He rubs the back of his neck. 

"We've been worried sick!" Spirit sighs, pulling his brother away from the hug again. Holy heck, they haven't grown at all. Still incredibly tiny. "Oh. Sorry about that." "Not that - /you/! You haven't come out of the house for a solid three days!" The scholar puts his hands up. Oh. He hasn't? Well, he guesses they don't know about that time he ran away and into the Lost Woods - for the better, probably. "Well, uh, I'm here now, so that's good?" This is not going well. 

"It's good that you've come to your senses and actually decided to visit your little brothers, yes," Spirit added with that professional trying-to-adult tone that he always had. "We're gonna be leaving for Skyloft soon, since Sleepyhead is having a contest battle. We were starting to wonder if you actually knew we were here at all." Windy chimes in. "Isn't that where Rusl is?" "Oh, dad?" The fact that Spirit calls him /dad/ even though Twilight himself refuses to use anything less proper than /father/ is concerning. 

"Y-yes. Dad." He nods slowly. Why does the word sound so foreign on his tongue? It's supposed to be normal to call him that, so why...? "Yeah. He's helping set up the show. We haven't gotten the chance to call him yet." Windy explains. "Though, once he finds out that you're here, he'll probably drop everything to come and see you. You /have/ been gone for nearly two years, after all." Spirit nods. These two keep finishing each other's sentences. It's like they have telepathy or something.

"I suppose you're right," Twilight sighs, moving to sit on the couch with them. "What's wrong?" "Nothing, I just... haven't seen him in forever. I don't know what to say or how he'll react." He looks downward. "I'm sure you'll do fine, Dork." Windy elbows him. He really hopes he's right.

"Also, what's the racket outside? I can't focus on reading at all." Spirit has the book folded under one arm. "Uh, I'm pretty sure there's a snowball fight." Pretty sure is an understatement. He got knocked upside the head with one, of /course/ there's a snowball fight. "Snowball fight?!" Uh oh, Windy's excited. He does have an ice type on his team, after all. "Why didn't you say so?" Spirit perks up, completely dropping his research files. Still childern at heart. Just like him.

"We've already got some layers... Huh? Twi!? What are you doing just wearing a jacket?" The smallest brother nearly panics upon realized how thinly dressed he is. "I'm fi-" "Heads up!" Windy tosses one of those fluffy cloud-like capes he always wears. "?!" Twilight catches it, if only barely. "You can use that!" Windy smiles. "Wh- I can't just take yours-?!" He blinks. "Yes you can!" Both of them give him strange looks. "Are you sure this is alright??" "Cmon, Windy! You're slow!!" Spirit nearly runs over him as he rushes out the door. "No, you're just too fast!!" 

Well, heck.


	2. Reminisce

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Twilight visits some old friends in his old home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The other chapters are definitely not gonna be as long as the first, but I'm still gonna try to make them big! This time I can actually use ao3's formatting so we don't have to worry about it.

Twilight guesses that his next stop is Time and Sky. He's not opposed to visiting his old house, especially since Rusl isn't currently there, but he doesn't _enjoy_ the idea either. Pulling the cape over his shoulders, he sighs and waves goodbye to Clover as he exits. He's starting to realize why Windy only wears this for actual battles, because it would be _way_ too warm to wear regularly. Windy seems to have adapted to it, though, living on an island town. 

It actually makes him blend into the snow a bit too. Though - how to navigate in this is a question. Maybe it's just harder because he's so much taller? At this point, he could've just flown over to his house, but it isn't _that_ far up the road, or at least, he thinks so? It's much shorter than he remembers it being. Probably just because he's used to trekking up hills by now.

Twilight awkwardly tries to open the door but also realizes that he doesn't have the keys. Yeah. The keys. The keys to his own flipping house. Arceus, at this point he'd settle for just falling asleep in the snow. Sky is the first one to open the door for him and tries to lift him off the ground in a hug but they're around the same strength and weight so it ends up in them slightly hovering above the ground for a moment.

"Aww, there you are! I was starting to think that you weren't gonna visit at all..." Sky smiles, getting them both back on the floor. Time simply nods from the back of the room. "Sorry that I had to take your room.,. Do you want it back?? I don't mind camping!" He chuckles. "N-no, that'll be fine. I'm staying at Carly's place for a while." Twilight shakes his head. 

"So, you're back to the land of the living, huh?" Time shrugs, which by the way, rude, but Twilight can tell that he cares as well. "Yes, I suppose I am." 

Twilight is drawn to the blue bands on the duo's wrists. Come to think of it...Windy and Spirit had them as well, didn't they? He doesn't remember them having them back when he was at the League. "Hey, uh, what are those things?" He turns to look up at Sky. "You don't remember?" Sky blinked. "He wasn't there, Sleepyhead." Time explained. "Oh, right! I'm sorry, the past few years have been confusing. I'm afraid I'm getting more forgetful." He gasps lightly. "Anyways, yes! The bracelets! It was Past's idea. After you left, we were kind of - _distraught. _We weren't sure about what to do with the positions, and some of us were fighting, and-" Oh. He caused this, didn't he?__

__"-Past wanted us to promise to stay friends no matter what happened, and so Spirit and Time made us these! Luckily, Windy stepped up to fill in for you, so the League was able to keep on running." Sky finishes, fixing his cape. "I'm terribly sorry. I caused the rift between you guys, didn't I?" Twilight sighs. "No, no, it's not that!" He seems a little flustered. "Uhm, are you okay?" He raised an eyebrow. "He gets all fidgety before a show." Time nods._ _

__"Wait, Time, you agreed to make friendship bracelets?" Twilight gasps. "I know! He's usually such a stick in the mud that we were offput by it too-" Time's glare stops them, but Twilight just smirks. The engineer is a softie after all._ _

"Ah, right! Do you want to see your old room? I know you're staying with the Champ, but it seems a little rude to not be allowed to explore your own house." He perks up. "I guess so? If it's okay with you?" Twilight shrugs. "Okay with me?! But it's your house!" Sky laughs. "Oh- I just wanted to ask!" His hands go up in defense. "No worries. Okay, let's go then!" The sleepyhead walks up the stairs, which Twilight is still not used to, even after going up flights of them in Carly's house. 

Sky opens the door. "Sorry if it's a bit of a mess. All your old stuff was there, and I didn't want to move anything 'cause Rusl kept it so neat all this time." He sighs, rubbing the back of his neck. Arceus, he's right. It...hasn't changed a bit. All the old posters, the window seat is still occupied by his stuffed animals - _curses, Sky saw those!_ Guess his facade of being a mature fourteen year old is up. 

Twilight steps onto the dusty hardwood, almost in awe. He even has the old League trophy! Bet it's changed designs by now. Perhaps he now owns an antique? "Kid? You okay?" Now Sky is the one asking him that. "I...I'm fine," His voice is trapped his throat. Even after he abandoned his own father, Rusl still kept everything in place? He.. wait, no, that can't be. Is that... a pack of those old fruit gummies he likes? Shoot - _used to,_ he has to make that into used to before Sky laughs at him for being a kid. 

"Oh, yeah. He left those out there before he went off to go set up the stuff. I'm not sure why." Sky points out. Okay, thank Arceus, he doesn't know. "Iiiii don't know either. H-how odd!" Twilight attempts to converse, but he actually _really wants some of those, damn it_.

"I should actually probably be going now. Skyloft is quite far, even with the best fliers in Hyrule." Sky sighed. He started to head for the door. "Kid?" He blinked. "Mm?" Twilight was on the bed, just getting a feel for the fabric. "Aren't you coming?" Sky crossed his arms. Wait, huh? "I don't have any tickets?" Twilight raised an eyebrow. "You kidding?! I can get you the best seats in the house, no problem! Besides, you can meet Rusl on the way!" The sleepyhead chuckled. Oh. That... does sound nice. He knows he isn't ready for it, but he does want to see his dad again, if only to get the emotional baggage out of the way.

"Is...is that really okay?" Twilight blinks. "Of course! Cmon, buddy, we might be late if you keep this one up!" Sky takes his hand, and in a few moments they're out the door. He doesn't even realize that he's still wearing Windy's coat - it's a wonder that he isn't sweating. Perhaps it's because his internal tempature could still use some work? Hm.

Time walks outside, only to be instantly hit by a snowball. "HA!! I finally got the engineer!" Carly laughs proudly, holding another one in hand. Time doesn't even seem phased. "Bisharp?" He sends out one of his team. In a few seconds, Bisharp has cut up the snow and plopped at least four snowballs into his hands. The engineer smirks. "Uh oh. Guys, run!" Windy grabs his twin and ducks behind a bush. 

"You've cursed us all!" Luto groans, covering his head. "Oops?" Carly giggles nervously, instantly being pelted by snowballs.

"I'm going with Sky before I get hit!" Quill shouts, latching onto the Sleepyhead's arm. "COWARDICE!!" Luto calls back, dodging another. "Have fun!!" Carly waves before being hit in the face again. Twilight is surprised he hasn't gotten hit himself yet. They probably think he's too fragile for it. He sighs.

"Okay, well, hm...I guess we've got some more passengers. Cinnamon, Lofty, do you mind?" Sky tossed the two pokeballs into the air. Twilight had almost forgotten the child like nicknames his team had - they made him smile. Surprisingly enough, "Cinnamon" is a Fearow, and even more surprising, is the sweetest thing. Cinnamon squawks out and reaches over to try and hug Twilight, which definitely startles him. "H-hey, watch it, this is Windy's coat!" It was almost like being tackle hugged by Stella again. "Quill, you can ride on Lofty." Sky motioned to his other partner - Lofty, the Altaria.

"I can just go on Brav," Twilight insisted, sending out his friend. "Ah, Braviary! I remember you were an excellent flier." Sky somehow instantly bonds with Braviary even though he usually refuses to let anyone but Twilight pet him. 

"They're so...fluffy." Quill gasps, getting situated on the cloudy bird. "Mhm! Altaria was one of the first Pokemon we were gifted at the Academy." Sky explained, hopping onto Cinnamon. "Everyone ready?" He looked between them. "I think so?" Twilight hasn't flown in a while. This should be fun.

The sky above is so warm. Nothing like the chilly winds on Mt.Lanayru. The gusts blow through the hair on his face, and he can feel the sun growing ever closer as they ascend. He's forgotten what it was like in Hyrule's airspace. He...loves it. No wonder Sky trains Flying types.

Twilight laughs - he feels like a kid again. It's not quite so bad to reminisce.


	3. Begin Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Twilight faces his fears.

The group approached Skyloft. The floating city.... really, a mechanical marvel. The whole place was suspended by poles and propellers - only a few daredevils would bare to live here. And yet, Sky called it home. Carly must've had a coronary trying to visit this a place. She was always afraid of heights... much like himself. Luckily, he'd gotten over his long ago - on the very same mountain he'd just returned from. How strange.

The sky has been both a place of comfort and hurt for him. Today, he expects both to be to the extreme. 

Sky lands first, and helps Quill off of Lofty. Braviary hits the ground, and as soon as his sneakers make contact, Twilight lets out a shaky sigh. He's not ready. But he has to do this. "So, that's the contest hall?" He looks up at the almost glittering building near the back of the town. "Yep. It's the finals of the Master Class today," Sky probably doesn't even notice it himself, but his hands are shaking. "I'm sure you'll do fine." Twilight smiles. Himself, on the other hand? Not really.

"Twi, you haven't seen the contest hall here before?" Quill blinks. "No." He shakes his head. "Really? I thought you said you watched all her matches," The fluffy headed teenager looks at him strangely. "The effects really slowed down the signal. I could hardly make out anything. Besides, I've never really been interested in contests before, so I only ever saw things in passing on my journey." The brunette explained.

"Ah, I understand. They are a little flashy, I guess?" Quill smiles. "I better get going. I think Sun is manning the will call, so you should be fine if you just ask her." Sky fixes his bandana. "Ah, your girlfriend?" Quill turns around. "Wh-uhm, uh, well, I'm gonna go change into the contest outfit!" Sky turns about as red as his cape before returning Cinnamon and Lofty and rushing into the building. "His _huh_??" Sky has a - a what now? 

"You don't know?" "He never said anything about it!??!" "It was only recently, so I guess he just hasn't told you yet."

People need to stop with the _not telling him things_ thing. It's getting quite redundant.

"Okay, Brav. You can come back now." Twilight pats his companion on his head before returning him to his pokeball. Right now, he probably needs Stella the most. He's always had to lean on her for emotional support and warmth - quite literally, in the past few months. Stoutland comes out, and he hops onto his friend's back. "Let's see what this is all about, yeah?" He looks up towards the structure. He's surprised she isn't scared of the fact that they're not on the ground, but Stella makes her way up to the front doors.

"Uhm, one ticket, please?" Twilight gets off, waving at the window. 

The girl at the booth - Sun - almost _chokes_.

He wasn't aware that his presence was this powerful. 

"Y-you're - you were missing!" Sun blinks, regaining her composure if even slightly. "Yes, I'm aware." Twilight nods. "I - you - how are you here?" She adjusts her hair. "I'm afraid it's a very long story." He sighs. "Sky needs to tell me about stuff like his missing Champion friend suddenly being alive again _before_ these things happen!" Sun grumbles. "So, uh, can I get a ticket or do I just - not go? I mean, it's okay, I can just watch it on TV later but-" He rubs the back of his neck. "Oh, I'm sorry - o-of course. I was just... startled." She fumbles to go for the machine.

"I understand. I haven't traveled outside my hometown for two weeks, after all.." Twilight chuckles nervously. Is everyone going to be this flustered when he appears? If so, he might just want to head home already. Sun hands him one of the papers and he nods a thank you before heading inside.

The contest hall is....big. Really big. He'd be surprised if the Pokemon League matched this size. Of course, everything is big when you're like, fourteen, but he hit his growth spurt a long time ago. He's almost on par with Time and Zant's height. They have some sort of ancient Unovan aesthetic going on...hm.

Now...where to head first? He presumes to go for his seat, since it's still early, but then again - no, no, he couldn't. He doesn't have a pass for that. Backstage. That's not where he's supposed to be. So why does he feel an urge, no, a _need_ to go there?

 _Because that's where Rusl is_ , answers his conscience, right as always.

Twilight doesn't think that he'd get in too much trouble if he went to go visit his dad? Better get out the emotions now, though. If he makes a scene back there, he'll probably get thrown out. He's ready. He can do this. No, he isn't, but that doesn't matter now. His feet are already moving towards the back door. It's slightly open, as if someone was inside. Breathe.

In. Out.

He's ready.

—————

Everything falls apart as soon as he passes the gate.

The room is messy, piles of things hapzardly stacked and not quite ready but still enough to hand out to the next person. He could've tripped on something were he not so experienced with stealth.

He shouldn't have to be experienced with stealth. Yet here we are.

Twilight scans the room as he enters, noting everything that could make a sound. Why is he checking for that? It's just his dad. He's not gonna mind. But it happens anyways. No one is in the room. He steps forward a few paces to hear the clank of something falling. 

"Ah, not again. It's gonna bust if I drop it another..." He stops. _Rusl_ stops. "...time." And he drops it once again. Busting the equipment to pieces, just as predicted.

A green gaze meets his, laced with memories of the forest and fields and earnest, hard work. Troubles and overcomings. Maturity. Twilight can only return the favor with a poor excuse for an iced over lake.

Cold as always. He is nothing compared to the strength of the woods in Rusl.

"Son?" He blinks, as if confused by his presence.

Twilight's hand trembles like a leaf as he raises it into a pitiful wave. He feels faint. The brunette scarcely breathes. "I-I know you must have mixed feelings about seeing me." He manages to choke out. The billowing winds of Mt.Lanayru are nothing compared to the tornado that has just hit him. "Son." Rusl repeats, making a patient smile. How can he possibly be this kind? This understanding? He up and left him without so much as a goodbye. Rusl _should_ be furious with him. He has done nothing to earn his tolerance.

Twilight, by some miracle, has not cried yet. Perhaps he doesn't deserve to.

"But I just want you to know. That I am - so, _so_ sorry, Dad."  
He calls him that for the first time in a million lifetimes. Rusl deserves titles so much more professional and grand than that, but his old man tears up at hearing the simple term. 

"I don't know how I can ever make it up to you, but I -" "Son."

Twilight sniffles out, instantly deafened by the embrace and the baritone's of his father's voice. Everything blocks out for a moment, and all he can feel is warm, warm, _warmth_. The ice in him vaporizes in a nanosecond. Twilight sobs. He cries, and the floodgates of spring open all at once and everything is warm ,warm, warm. The sun must not be half as bright as the light that nearly emanates from his father, mentor, and more than that, dearest friend. He feels like the sky. He feels like the sun. He feels like spring, the forests he played in as a child, the sunshine in his friend's eyes, the fire of hope. 

There is no more ice to be found in him. The mountain's presence is nothing but a mere myth.

"I'm so proud of you." 

"Thank you."

—————

Twilight almost forgets that a show is about to happen, what with all the brilliance of that moment. Rusl helps guide him out to the theater room, and he got two seats (possibly for if he wanted their pet Herdier to sit beside him) so he doesn't even really need the ticket. Twilight got it for free anyways, so it doesn't really matter. He doesn't think he could have another worry after what just happened, but the thought of him not knowing how a contest show works only now presented itself.

Is there a specific time to clap? He knows there's a voting system in place, but he doesn't know exactly how that works either. Is he supposed to be judging based on how well they're doing or how much he actually likes it? Or is it limited to a panel of judges?

Twilight realizes far too late that he doesn't know _anything_ about contests.

He's realizing now that he doesn't know anything about a lot of things, actually. 

The dimming lights cause him to jump a little, but the contestants head out in a formal line. Sky said something about this being the Master Class? That must mean something like professional. Wait, professional? Sky doesn't _feel_ professional at all. Well, he's focused in battle, but he has no defined way of going about things. That's what makes him so hard to beat. But, improvisation doesn't really have a place on the stage, does it? At least not this one. Sky seemed nervous before the performance - maybe he's worried that he'll forget what he rehearsed? The whole thing seems very streamlined, and he likes that, but it goes way over his head right now.

There's Sky. His contest outfit doesn't seem too much different from his usual one. The cape is certainly just that, though. He's never seen that one before. Come to think of it, the feathers look a bit like his Fearow's. Did he have it custom made? Sky's hair looks almost pinkish in the colored lights, and each performer has a different quality to them, gleaming like stars in front of the curtain.

"And finally, one of our very own elite four, the flying type master Sky!" The cheers are deafening for everyone else that he could hardly tell who they were. But the amount of applause that erupts for Sky - is _so_ much louder. The whole stadium must be up in arms about this. He wonders if Carly got this much appreciation when she went out on stage.

Sky just smiles lightly. Twilight's ears are ringing. How does he do this?

Just a bit of paparazzi was enough to convince Twilight to stay within the league building. But Sky is out here, in front of thousands of people, and not a slight jitter? Twilight really is pathetic.

But the performances. Oh, good Arceus above, no wonder he isn't cut out for this. They're all so detailed and choreographed, and there's so much moving around and dancing and - wow. This is the first time he's been amazed in quite a while (except for maybe the fact that Time agreed to _friendship bracelets_ , what kind of puppy faced socerery did Spirit do to make _that_ happen?).

It finally comes time for the Sleepyhead's act. He's the last one in the house. Must be a lot of pressure.

He sends out all six of his team members - Fearow, Altaria, Noctowl, Flygon, Noivern, and Vivieon. Each one has a very simple clothing item compared to the rest. Guess he's not one for fashion? Noctowl shoots upward and uses Gust to blow back on all the others. Vivieon and Noivern do some sort of Supersonic and Sleep Powder combo that mixes with the gust attack. Finally, Altaria and Flygon rush up to the top and make a giant cloud. 

Sky himself hops onto Fearow, who bravely ducks into the sort of mini-glittery-tornado that they've made. Somehow, he manages to not get swept away, and Fearow starts spinning as it ascends like its own whirlwind. How much endurance does Fearow have? Those winds have to be incredibly fast. After that, they make it to the top, where Fearow pierces the cloud like a blade. Sky's own light colored clothing looks like its own sun, and he jumps up to land on Altaria. Noctowl uses Psychic to make parts of the stage float, and Sky jumps over to one of them, hopping across like leap frog or something. It almost looks like he's flying, with how fast he's going.

Then, as the final act, Flygon breaks all the platforms at once, making them erupt into fireworks of rain, and Sky lands on Fearow, in the center. He flies up a bit to hold up his hands to the crowd, and he's _laughing_ , not because he's nervous, but because he's at home here. Twilight cheers. He cheers for the first time in a long, long while. 

The mood is tense as the announcer comes up after Sky heads offstage. Third, second... "And the winner is...."

"Sky!"

Rusl smirks, almost as if he'd placed a bet on it. Twilight laughs before clapping for him. Before long, it's time to leave, but on their way out, the two come across Quill and the Sleepyhead himself.

"There you are, you talented little kid!" Rusl basically tackle hugs his protégé. "AAA- Rusl! You're denting the shoulder pads!" Sky protests, descending into laughter all the same. "Hey, how'd it go, Twi?" Quill smiles, turning to wrap an arm around his brother in arms. "Wonderfully." Twilight whispers, still in awe from both his dad forgiving him and the sparkly performances. "You were...." He's not sure he remembers an adjective that can even begin to describe Sky's performance. "....great." Twilight internally cusses himself out for using something as lowly as that, but at least he's sincere.

Sky is - sobbing? Oh shit, what did he do??! 

"I just got congratulated! By the guy that beat me back then!! And he has the purest smile known to man!" Sky sniffles into his cape. Really, he isn't that special. He's just a kid who's good at battling and that's pretty much it. Sky is both a contest star _and_ one of the longest standing members of the Elite Four. How could be possibly be better than him? Heck, if it weren't for Braviary, they wouldn't have won that match.

"Sky, it's okay! He's absolutely correct!" Quill comforted. "Mmmghh,," Sky wiped his eyes. "Thank you." He nodded, turning to Twilight. "I think it's about time I returned home. Not alone, for once." Rusl smiled. 

"True... And I bet Carly's gonna want to tell you all about the snowball fight." Quill nodded. "Well, what about you guys?" Twilight looked around. "Actually, I think I'm gonna stay here for a while. I want to check up on how things are going with Midna and the trial and all.." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Trial?" Sky blinked. "It's a bit of a long story. You know Luto, right?" "Kind of hard to forget. He was really odd when we went up in the tunnels," Sky shrugged.

"Well, his dad's kind of an as- a _jerk_ ," Quill stutters. Woah. He almost cursed! Has he ever even heard Quill do that before? Heck, he even caught himself there. Must be really worked up over it. After all, he and Luto were very close before the whole bullying drama started.

"And he's in court for it." Quill finishes, adjusting his hair. Twilight still has no idea how it's that fluffy. He looks like a freaking porcupine. In a good way, in a good way.

"Wow, never knew that. Well, I hope that everything turns out okay. Do you guys wanna borrow Lofty or anything?" Sky turned to Rusl. "No, Braviary can handle two people at once." Twilight nods. "I'd expect no less from a pokemon that can go head to head with Cinnamon," The sleepyhead smiles proudly. "See ya!" Rusl waves, hopping onto Brav. The flight back is mostly eventful, until -

"Hey, Champ! Hold on a second!"

Past. Unmistakable voice. Probably wants a rematch. 

_Crud._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes I did take lines from sozin's comet part 2 from atla and y'all are going to have to SUFFER with the comparison  
> can you see all the forest, sky and ice figurative language in this chapter?? yeah i like symbolism  
> i made up my own form of contest battles for this fic so yeah  
> i don't know how choreography works


	4. The First Champion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Past passes the baton.

Twilight sighed, quickly landing Braviary as he heard the call. He had all his Pokémon, right? If Past is mad at him because he left the Champion title vacant for so long, he'd understand. Besides, that could all be settled by a battle - one of the few things that he's good at.

"There you are. I've been looking for you all day," Past panted, adjusting the side of his hair with the dip dye. Rusl gasped, happily waving to him. "It's been a while, hasn't it?" His father almost tackle hugs Past, who awkwardly shoves him off because it's _literally_ only been a week, but he can't refuse a hug from the League's resident step dad.

"How are ya? I gotta say, you had us pretty worried out there." "I'm fine." Half-truth. He has been feeling a little better recently. 

"Anyways, here." Past shuffles around in his bag, pulling out a small, sky blue bracelet. The circle is engraved with three triangles placed to look like a bigger triangle, and little wing markings stretch out from both sides. He's seen this bracelet before. He's sure of it. The former Champion slides it on top of his wrist, and as the band clicks into place, something just feels right. And then he realizes _where_ he's seen this before. Windy. Spirit. Time. Sky. And now...Past, too. "This is...!" Twilight stifles a light gasp, and Past nods happily. 

"Mhm. We've been wanting to give it to you for a while now, but that wasn't really possible, so I just kinda wore both until then. Looks fitting, huh?" He smirks. Twilight is almost in a daze, because he's done absolutely nothing to deserve one of these, and he almost wants to just give it back, but that wouldn't be polite. "This means you're now an honorary member of the Hyrule League. You're welcome anytime, kid." Past pats his shoulder, and Twilight can literally _feel_ the proud dad look Rusl is giving from behind him. "I..." he sniffles, pausing. "I'm not a jewelry person, Past." He manages, wiping at his eyes. Past raises an eyebrow. "You don't have to wear it-" "No, back off. I'm going to wear it forever." Twilight shakes his head, tears streaming down his face, and he just lunges forward and hugs Past. 

Past always was the better Champion. He always knew what to do, even if it looked stupid at the time.

"Though, there is one more thing...." 

Ah. There it is. Twilight can't see it because his face is buried into Past's shoulder, but he can tell the look on his face. "Rematch?" The brunette smirks, stifling his tears for a moment to stand up again. "Damn, you're fast." Past smiles. 

"Oh, shit, I forgot the popcorn." Rusl mumbles, almost as if he knew this was going to happen. "Sorry, old man! It's gonna be over quicker than you can microwave some!" The champion laughs. "I wouldn't be so sure. This is my son we're talking about, after all!" He states proudly. Twilight quickly glances over his belt - thank Arceus, everyone's here. "How about a one on one? After all, it isn't an official match, so we shouldn't have to go all out." Past shurgs. Oh. Even better. Twilight's hand rests over Stella's pokeball, nodding.

Infernape. He sends out Infernape. Because _of course_ he does. Because Past doesn't give a crap about type differences even though Stella knows water moves, and Twilight _knows_ that Past can win anyways. 

Stoutland's howl pierces the silence as his loyal companion steps out in a white light. 

Let's do this. 

"Hydro Pump," Twilight doesn't even bother to ask if he can have the first move, because he knows that Past doesn't care, and even though this is a super effective hit, Infernape can take it. Because Twilight has _seen_ Infernape battle before, and boy, it can take a Hydro Pump like it's a mere Water Gun. He's witnessed it firsthand, and he's been on the recieveing end of the Flamethrower that Past responds with before, and he knows how terrifying that is. He's almost surprised that it doesn't end up torching the trees around them, but that's just proof of how much control Infernape has over its flame. 

Twilight can't focus on Past right now, because he's busy with Infernape, but he _knows_ that the Champion is smirking. 

He can't focus on his dad's cheering either, though it is quite deafening. 

He can't focus on anything else. He just has to - _focus_.

And he does. 

Twilight's mind clears, and then it races. Infernape is faster. Stella can't dodge it, but she can definitely take some hits, or even make some of them obsolete just because of how physically big she is. 

Stella can hear Past much quicker than he can. She can possibly dodge it that way, but then again, Infernape can do the same if Twilight yells out commands. And so, Twilight just - doesn't. He takes a deep breath and doesn't say anything at all. Stella just knows. She hops out of the way of the new Flamethrower, then goes for Takedown. Twilight knows that he can trust Stella's instincts. And more than that, just Stella in general.

Words are unessacary. 

They always have been, and always will be.

"Mach Punch!" That move is known to be fast, so Stella takes another hit as she tries to move in for Takedown. Finally she crashes in, and the impact is brutal. Both of them stagger back, and Stella winces from the recoil. That's okay. Twilight can handle this. Past goes for Swords Dance, which is bad news, because Infernape is already super fast and doesn't need a strength boost on top of that. "Crunch," Twilight responds quietly, realizing that Infernape is now a sitting duck while building up attack power. 

Past must sense this coming, though, because he doesn't flinch. Twilight is slowly realizing that he's drifting back to the strategy he used in the Pokemon League, and he knows what that means - "Thunder Punch, let's go!" - Past knows how to counter it. Damn it - he hasn't battled anyone in ages, not counting Carly's match because that was a tie. Besides, Past watched that one. He knows Stella's new moves. He probably planned this from the start - just fantastic. 

Electricity sparks throughout Stella's fur. Just breathe. They can still do this. 

Stella looks back, and Twilight smiles, signaling for Return. Ah. Past can't deal with that. They've known eachother for a very long time, which only means this move will be even stronger than it was at the league. 

She drifts her paw against the ground, almost like a charging bull getting ready to strike. And then, she runs. Infernape falls to the ground. That can't possibly be it. Far too easy. 

"C'mon! You can do it!" Past isn't scared. Neither is his partner, because Infernape jumps up in a violent Flamethrower. Luckily, Stella instinctively bursts out with Hydro Pump, which evens it out before it can get to her. 

Mach Punch once again. Then Crunch, then Flamethrower again, then Take Down. Back and forth. Each opponent tackles into eachother with increased ferocity as the battle rages on, and Twilight is still focusing. It's by some miracle that he's able to not panic for this long, and it's one of the many things Twilight has not figured out about himself. He doubts he ever will. 

Swords Dance, here's another opportunity. He decides on Return, but Infernape is prepared and blocks most of the force with its arms. Twilight notices a slight limpness. Infernape messed up its punching arm. Ah, now _there's_ something. 

"Hydro Pump, left arm!" He instinctively shouts, which is sudden for the usually silent child. Past blinks. He didn't notice? How disappointing. Twilight smiles, and Stella unleashes a full force torrent. She's out of breath afterwards, but the amount of concentrated force hits Infernape's arm to the point where it's pinned to the ground in seconds. Infernape closes its eyes. The battlefield goes silent. Rusl counts. "Ten seconds out. You lost, bud." He turns to Past. 

"Yikes. Well, that's what I get for slacking off in my Elite Four position after I got beat the first time. It's been a long while since I've been utterly clapped, and at that, twice in a row." Past crouches down, returning his partner. Twilight does the same, and when his hand pressed to his chest, he can feel his heart just _going_. It's a wonder he didn't pass out. Such is the rush of a League level match. 

"Oh, I wouldn't say you got completely destroyed. I'm just smart and lucky." Twilight shakes his head. "Yeah, sure. I'm assuming the lucky part got you here?" Past laughs. "Mayhaps," he nods. 

"Thanks for that. I had fun." Twilight smiles. "You had a marvelous time asserting dominance, didn't you?" The blonde chuckles. "Yeah, yeah I did."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stella's moveset: Hydro Pump, Take Down, Crunch, Return   
> Infernape's moveset: Flamethrower, Mach Punch, Thunder Punch, Swords Dance 
> 
> Let me know if I wrote the battle alright. I don't play competitive pokemon, so usually I either OHKO or hit it until it faints without any real strategy so my battles usually come out as boring. 
> 
> It's Rematch time bois!! I wanted to write a Past-centric chapter since I don't appreciate my Champion boy enough.


	5. Good For You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Luto Albelnour breaks free.
> 
> This chapter mentions family trauma. Be careful, folks!

Twilight is very, very tired. 

First, he gets thrown back to sea level. Then, he learns of what happened while he was gone. Next, there were Windy and Spirit, and then there was Sky's Contest, and finally his reunion with Rusl and his battle with Past. 

Twilight is _tired_. And so he dedicates today - Saturday - to doing nothing. Nothing at all. He is going to sleep and watch TV and maybe play video games. That's it.

Besides, it can't possibly get any worse, can it?

Twilight realizes far too late that he shouldn't have thought about that. Because then it did.

"Hey, Twi. Did you hear what happened this morning?" Time walks in - Twilight actually ended up sleeping at Rusl's house last night. He didn't seem to notice. "Don't know, and probably don't care." He sighed. "Hm. Well, if you don't know, that's up to you to figure out. It might be better off staying away from Luto today." The engineer fiddles with his wrench, turning to the weird metal box - project - that he'd been working on. "Huh? Why?" Oh no, now he's intrigued. Twilight has some suspicions - _just_ suspicions, he reminds himself, Carly told him not to be mean to him - but he can't say that he knows what's going on.

"I thought you would've figured out already....they let you know about the trial, right?" Time blinks. "Yeah, what about it?" He rolls over, yawning. Even though he's done nothing today, his body still aches, and he can't shake the feeling that he needs to be doing something. "A verdict was reached." He nods. Oh, oh, heck. Of course he had to drop that bombshell. He didn't know the trial was happening today. Then, Luto must've just dropped the argument back then because he already had enough to worry about? What with his dad and all? Ah, now he feels guilty about that too...

"So? Don't keep me in suspense." Twilight sits up. "Guilty," Time confirms. "Hawthorne Albelnour was convicted." He adds, as if the sheer power of the word alone wasn't enough. 

"Luto must be feeling - actually, I have no idea what he's feeling. His dad just got sent to _jail_. I don't really want to think about it either," He tilts his head in confusion. "That's why I suggest staying away from him for today, at least." Time explained, screwing bolts onto the metal. "Why? I mean, I know I'm not the best at comfort but-' "He - doesn't like you. We can all sense it." Blunt as ever.

"Well, I figured that. He's always hated me. But I've never found out why." Twilight sighs. He knows he's messed up, many times, okay, many, _many_ times, but he doesn't think he's ever done anything to really hurt him. At least, not directly. He probably holds a grudge for Twilight dismantling the original Team Power, but he knows that he was doing the right thing there. "Have you tried asking Quill?" Time asks. He hasn't. Why the hell did he not think of that sooner?!? Chaos could've been averted! Stupid! Ah, this is why Time has always been the strongest of the Elite Four - he's the one that uses basic logic! "....I'm going to go do that." Twilight rubs at his temple, standing up. Another cold day...hm. Rusl left out a fluffier jacket for him, so...yeah,that's fine. Twilight doesn't have the energy to go upstairs and search for one he would rather wear anyways. It's somehow looser than he remembers it being. Did he seriously lose that much weight?

He heads outside. The snow is still present from yesterday, although some has melted. Probably not dense enough to play in anymore. Dang it, he kind of wanted to make a snowman, it's been so long since he's been able to actually play with snow rather than trek through it - no, no, he is going to ask Quill about Luto. He does not have time for childish thoughts. Twilight inadvertently kicks at the snow as if telling it no himself. As if it could listen to him. And he just said that he doesn't have time for childish thoughts - nevermind. His pace hastens as he makes his way to Quill's house.

"Good afternoon, Quill." He smiles as he opens the door. The air in here is always so comforting in clean. Quill looks back up at him and tackle hugs him, because Quill is living, breathing hug waiting to happen. "You visited! I'm so proud," Porcupine head gleams. "Ah-uhm, well, I just came cause I wanted to, if that's okay-" Twilight adds nervously. "Of course it is!" Quill leads him to sit down on the couch. "So, did you want to talk about anything?" He tries to fix hot chocolate, and Twilight hears something about how he thinks it's not as good as Clover's, which is absolutely bull because Quill's coffee making skills are god tier. "BROTHER, YOU ARE SO EMBARASSING!!" "-Rit, it's not MY fault that the platforms have weird placements!!" "You just suck!" "I do NOT!!" From Upstairs. Ah.

Uh oh. Is league family game night happening? Looks like Windy and Spirit are getting along swimmingly!

"They're, uh, a little loud before they get lunch." Quill sighs. "I would know." Twilight chuckles - he _did_ live with these guys for six months. "Uh, anyways, you didn't answer my question?" He's absolutely right. "Right! Yeah, I wanted to talk about...Luto." He sighs. "Is this about the bad times that happened a while ago or-" "I'm not really sure. I wasn't there a while ago." Twilight shrugs, adjusting his hat, which he should probably just take off at this point. "I don't know - I heard what was happening today and Time said something about him hating me and now I'm a little paranoid about it," He huffed. 

"Oh, you mean the trial? Luto's actually here right now. Luckily, Mom was gonna be out for the week so he got her room." Quill explains. Wait. Windy and Spirit are probably in Quill's room, and if Luto is in Clover's, then...."Where do you sleep?" Twilight asks. "The couch." "Quill, it's your house. You can have your room if you want!" Ever the hypocrite, because Twilight is still staying at Carly's place on their way too big for their family couch. "But couch comfy,," He speaks in broken English after taking a sip of the hot chocolate. "Okay, fine." Twilight rolls his eyes. "But, uh, about that -" "Heard y'all were talking about me. It's really hecking rude to do that when I'm not up yet." Good Arceus, Luto is _tired_. "OH, HI, LU - WE WERE JUSTMAKINGHOTCHOCOLATEYOUPROBABLYHEARDSOMEONEELSE AHAHAHA-" Quill is bluffing. And also sweating profusely. "Nice try. I may have not slept in three days, but I'm not dumb." Luto rubs at his forehead. Man, he almost broke Twilight's record! It isn't a competition, but still. 

Luto turns to Twilight, and Arceus, that glare is amplified today. Is this what he looks like when he wakes up after crashing and just glares at people? He's terrified of himself now. "Yo, what's hypothermia boy doing here?" He yawns. Twilight decides that he does NOT like that nickname.

"Just fine, thank you. I was simply going to ask Quill a few things, but if you guys are occupied, then I may leave." Twilight holds back his bitterness because he is not 'Hypothermia Boy', Arceus, any other nickname would've been better. "Mhm. About me. Well? Don't hold back." Luto crosses his arms. "What?" "I said, don't hold back. Just- fire away. My life couldn't get much worse." He shakes his head. Twilight should probably warn him about saying stuff like that because his had already been disproven. "I have a question!" Quill raised his hand, third wheeling. "Eh?" Luto blinked. "Are you okay?" The obvious answer is no, honestly, one look at the guy would've told you that. 

"I'm actually doing better than most days." Luto smiles. He's- not lying. Twilight's eyes bore into the back of his soul, but he's truthful. For once. Then again, one has to wonder- what's _most days_ like for him? How was it, going around the Gym Challenge with no companion but his Pokémon? Twilight was like that too - Rusl checked up every once in a while, but other than that, he was on his own. Carly always had Quill. They never had to worry about not being able to set up the tent right (because he hopes that the combined brainpower of those two would be far above that), getting caught in the rain, lost in the city or the woods, or kept awake by the noise of the outdoors. Carly probably sung herself to sleep while hugging onto Roxy, and mayhaps Quill was nearby, curled by against Arcane. And perhaps their days were much less lonely than theirs. Twilight sighs, swallowing. He can do this. Even though he doesn't want to admit it, maybe they have more in common than they thought. 

"Uh, Quill, I sense Hypothermia Boy is having an internal monologue. Think you could leave this one to us?" Luto chuckles, waving to his friend. "Yeah, thanks. This is between you guys, anyways. And I think Spirit's getting tired of his big brother being bad at Smash," Quill laughs awkwardly, heading upstairs. Twilight hates that gosh darn nickname, he doesn't know why, but it's just unacceptable. As is most things with Luto. "Mm?" The black haired boy waves in front of his face, to snap him back to reality. "Right. There's been something I've been meaning to ask for a while." Twilight breathes. By some miracle. "Yeah?" Luto is fixing his hairpin. 

"I want to know why you hate me so much."

Luto - Arceus above - snorts. He laughs. "Well, first of all, big brain McGee, you glare at me all the time and constantly push your super righteous agenda onto me!" He expected that one. Drat. Is he getting ahead of him again? "I push my ~righteous agenda~ because yours tends to be filled with bullying and stealing!" Twilight huffs back. He's tired. This wouldn't happen if he wasn't tired. The less sleep he gets, the more angry Twilight can be. "Yeah, well newsflash, I'm not perfect like the rest of you!" Luto is still in hysterics, though the words come out like venom. He senses something else though- sadness? Jealously? Perhaps he will never know. 

"You don't have to be perfect, you just have to be a decently good citizen!" Twilight puts out his hands. Luto is shorter, so he just lifts his chin up proudly to stare back. "I think you have a different definition of good citizen than I do!" He shrugs. "We all do! Yours is the only one that's absurd!" His voice heats up. There can be no more ice left in him, only a hot, passionate flame. "This is exactly your problem! You bring this up every time!" Luto groans. "Yeah, cause it never fixes itself!" Twilight does the same. "Sometimes I really wonder what the hell your family did to make you so - so -" Infuriating is what he _tries_ to say, but it doesn't happen. The flame has been doused. His anger is gone. Why was he yelling again? " - so damaged." Twilight finishes weakly. Though Twilight's flame may have gone out, Luto's just grew into a bonfire. 

"My family,huh? You come to me, on the DAY my dad gets arrested, to start being concerned about my _family ?!"_ His yellow eyes light up like gold. Oh, shit. What did he do now?! Ugh, Twi, why are you this stupid?!

"You wanna know what happened to make me this monster mess I am now?! Fine! Enjoy every bit of agony you'll get from it!" Luto looks like he can start a fistfight and win. Twilight blinks. "L-Lu." He manages, voice quaking. That's Quill's nickname for him. He's never used it before. It feels...right. The word comes across without any underlying tones. He's just - concerned. "Wh- what happened? If you're okay." He places a hand on Luto's shoulder. Arceus, he's cold. Colder than Twilight, actually. Does he just not store body heat?

"Don't start getting soft on me now, dork." Luto huffs, batting his hand away, but softer this time, as if he didn't actually mean to hurt him. "I've always been soft. One of my many weaknesses." Twilight laughs. "You have a weakness?" Luto whispers softly, in literal awe. Does he not see them? They're painfully obvious, despite how many times he tries to cover them up. He cares far too much. Does not have self control. Easily conditioned. No glare cold as the peak of Mt.Lanayru can hide those. 

Luto sighs, actually apologizing for getting angry, which is absolutely a first. 

"My dad is an a**." He rubs at his hair. "Well, yeah, otherwise he wouldn't have been sent to jail." Twilight blinks. "Before having me, he was with some girl named Lanya. Apparently they were close- but she died in a motor accident thanks to drunk stupidity." Luto clearly doesn't care for this other woman. "Anyways, Thorne married Aideen, Mom, a few years later and they had me. Mom was always so nice to me...we actually lived up in Zora's Domain for a bit. She would show me things she found out on gardening expeditions, and of course, there were the garden snakes." He fidgety with his hairpin again. Twilight notices that it's shaped like an Ekans. "I _loved_ the garden snakes." Luto smirks with a passion that isn't simply gained from others, but from himself, from his heart. No wonder he has an Arbok. 

"Dad and Mom fought a lot. I tried to stay out of it, but eventually I couldn't help but start to watch them argue. Apparently Dad still had feelings for Dead Lady, and Mom wanted a trusting relationship- I never got to learn what that meant." He brushes his hand over his scarf, pulling it up. "Why?" "Mom got a divorce, you idiot. And I was stuck with Dad for some reason. Dad wasn't very good by himself. We had to move out of our house cause he couldn't make the payments- I snuck in Ekans inside my scarf to take him with me. Dad was really mad about it, but then again, he's mad about everything.I just had to start doing things by myself. And then, since I was so good at the gardening sales, I was able to earn enough money for something that I actually wanted- enrolling in the Trainer's school. That's where I met Quill." Luto seems happy at the last part. "So that's how you met....I always wondered." Twilight smiled. 

"We were friends. At least, how I knew how to be friends. I tried. I didn't know I was doing things wrong, I - Quill left to go be with you guys, cause you were better friends. I don't blame him now, but at the time, I was _pissed_. Dad's rage fits with me only made me more and more angry and fed up with how things were going, and so I tried getting back at you two. It was really stupid. And I was mad at you for standing up for people just like mom and- and, I did stupid things. Like joining you know who." Luto is geninuely distressed. "I saw a billion stories like mine in Juvenile, you know. I thought I was the only one. Turns out, broken hearts aren't that special. I was scared because I thought I was going to stay there and become worse than them. I was scared that I was gonna be - l-like father like son." He pulls his scarf over his face, too embarrassed to deal with it. "You will never be like him," Twilight gasps, shaking his head. "I promise. You're so much better than that." Twilight has had to deal with not living up to his dad's expectations. Luto has to worry about living up to _becoming_ his dad. 

"And you wanna know what? I yelled at him, in court. Almost got myself held in contempt, but he deserved some fight for all the work he gave me. And - I saw mom. She was a witness. But she acted like she didn't know me at all. Like she didn't care. But...mom cared. So that can't be mom," Luto cries. "You're not bound by your legacy. Trust me, if you let that get to you...it'll turn bad." He sighs, hugging onto him. "Like, staying on a mountain for two years bad?" "Depends. Are you me?" "No." "Then most likely not. And that's okay."

One day, Twilight is going to go to the visitor's center, and he is going to sucker punch the hell out of Hawthorne Albelnour. For now, hugging Luto will have to do, though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LUTO CENTRIC CHAPTER!! WOO MY BOY!! he's not the best, but he's recovering.   
> Backstory drop. I give all commenter full permission to dropkick Hawthorne.


	6. Silence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here comes a day, in which, Twilight has all the time in the world. He can rest,do anything he wants. There's nothing there to stop him anymore. But the silence, the freedom from ringing in his ears - something does not feel right in that moment. 
> 
> Aka: Riju challenges herself to write a chapter without a SINGLE line of dialogue and somehow manages! And also SUFFERS because I love banter.

Okay, today's the day. 

_Now_ he is going to do nothing. Truly. 

According to Sky, he slept for twelve hours straight last night. That's fine, he doesn't have anything special to do today. So why does he feel empty?

Twilight absent-mindedly plays with the bracelet on his hand. He smiles. It feels like a better addition to his wrist than the who knows how old bandages currently occupying them. He's not sure what caused the ones on his left hand anymore. And then he notices the hole. 

The hole.

A triangular hole, in the middle of the engraved League symbol, exactly where the fourth triangle should be. 

Empty. Odd. Unessacary, really. Is it like that for a reason?

He yawns. Eh, he'll think about it later. He's not sure why he slept in Rusl's house again. Time is fine with sleeping on the floor (actually, he's quite comfortable looking there, to the point where he thinks that he'd be content camping with Past honestly ), but there's a giant couch in Carly's house for a reason, at least. And theirs is the nice kind, the one you actually wouldn't mind sleeping on. This one is old and dented and creaks when you bounce on it, but Twilight has always done thinks the hard way, so perhaps that's why he prefers it.

Twilight goes through his bag for about the tenth time this morning. Fishing rod, Pokegear, Ultra Balls, TMs, pictures, what else? He's not even sure he remembers what these things are called anymore. Then, of course, the abandoned crochet projects, and oh Arceus there's a lot more of those then there were before Mt.Lanayru - and...actually, that's it. Isn't there supposed to be other things there? Did he empty out his stuff earlier today or is he just that forgetful?

Anyways, it's probably about time for the Gogoat to get back in the barn, which he somehow remembers despite not having to worry about that for at least three years (including his journey time). Maybe he could get some training in? That does sound like a good idea. It's warmer today, so Rapidash will be okay out in the snow. At least, he _thinks_ it's warmer. He doesn't really have a definition of warmer, because anything is warmer than a snowstorm, but room temperature is super hot compared to that, and uh oh he's over thinking it again. Just to be safe, though, he's going to wear that jacket again. Safe, sure. As if he didn't spend a lot of his time out there with just one layer. _Now_ he's considered about safe? He almost calls himself a coward. 

Twilight heads outside, gazing upon the grass shoots poking out of the white blanket. It's going to be spring soon, whatever spring is like down here. Ah, he forgot again. Best to find out now, though. The gate creaks open, after multiple failed attempts to defrost the lock mechanism. To be honest, he probably could've just kicked it, but he wouldn't dare damage his own hecking house. He's not that stupid. 

The field is just about the same. Everything is the same here. There's the barn to the far left up north, the hill to the right, those same evergreens to the south. It's like he's stepped through a time machine. Back to simpler days. How he wishes he could return to them...

No time for idle reminiscing now, though. Rapidash appears in a blaze of fire, a spark that never tires. Truly a guiding light for him recently. And Rapidash is so _warm_ all the time and it's amazing. Rapidash is like a living, breathing heated blanket and Twilight loves her very much. The brunette hops onto his friend's back, and the most famous of miracles occurs - sitting directly behind Rapidash's flame and not being burnt. Not that he wouldn't mind being burnt, it is quite cold, but burnt isn't very ideal either. What's more, because Twilight is actually a chaotic little bastard, he places a hand on top of the source of Rapidash's flame, the crown of her head but not quite the horn, and pats it like a little kid. Rapidash whinnies, and Twilight just laughs. Ah, he missed being stupid every once in a while. Even if it is incredibly absurd.

It's...quiet. A little too quiet, if you're asking him. He doesn't mind the silence for a bit, but after he sits on Rapidash for a while, it gets concerning. So, instead he focuses on the soft crackling of fire. He finds that he's done this many times - fire is distracting. Twilight finally motions for Rapidash to start. The old girl neighs proudly, almost as if she'd been wanting to do this for a long time. He leans forward in preparation, sighing in relief. He missed this too. They haven't been able to go fast for a while now, but finally, they have the chance. 

One, two, three, and they're off.

Twilight flinches as the whiplash gets to him, but he manages. Coming around the edge of the fence now, he presses closer to his friend's back. Since he's mostly looking at the ground for a few moments, he notices the goosegrass drying out beneath each hoofbeat. The snow is melted easily, but the expected warmth of spring is not what they got. Instead, the blazing heat of summer dances gracefully atop the ground, turning the floor into blackened roots as it passes. 

His head now turns skyward, to face the sun, perhaps just as warm. Though it is less intense, so the rays fall welcomingly onto his pale skin. 

The wood bends into a curve as they approach the hill, which signals a turn. Rapidash zigzags outward to gain momentum. And it gets warmer and warmer. Twilight is starting to wonder whether he even needed the extra jacket. At least it's more tightly fitted, which means it won't fly off if they go too fast. The hurdle is coming up. He can feel the the steadily increasing taps of footfalls, and he holds on tighter. His hands dig into smooth fur, slick with sweat. Not very good for gripping onto, but he doesn't want to attach reins or a saddle onto Rapidash. It just doesn't seem freeing for his friend, and besides, he has enough to worry about with the smoke that sometimes exits from her nostrils. He feels the tension in her legs as they prepare to jump. And then, the release. He feels like the sky again as the boost flings them into the air, and Rapidash's body spreads out into a thin line as if wings were about to appear from her back.

Shock presses onto them as they stick the landing. Luckily, Rapidash absorbs the force with no problem. Twilight leans out to the side as a signal to head into the middle, and they slow down, eventually to where he hops off. Rapidash looks like an Arceus damned bonfire, and that's a ridiculously good thing, if he's being honest. Big fire on a fire type usually equals healthy fire type. He laughs and wraps both arms around his friend before returning her to rest. Now what to do...? Samurott could probably also use some training, but all the lakes around here are frosted over, and those are what they usually use for practice. Ah well, it'll just have to do for today. Besides, that was exhilarating, especially since it's been forever since last time. Perhaps he should take another nap? 

Yet...he can't shake the feeling that something is missing, something important too. He heads back to the gateway and checks his bag for the _eleventh_ time this morning. Still, everything's there, at least that he knows of. His hand does pass over something strange though. Smooth and hard, like a gemstone. He fishes it out. Oh - Houndoomite, was it?. He'd almost forgotten that he had it. Houndoom has never Mega Evolved before. They'd always been the least close of the team anyways. Twilight wishes they could have a stronger bond, but if it is Houndoom's will that they not become friends, then he shall respect his wishes. Besides, however distant they may be, Houndoom still listens to him in battles.

He reaches to find the Keystone. Strangely, it's the same color as his bracelet. He wonders if it could fit.....well, he'd have to cut it down, but Time could probably do that - wait, why is he thinking about this? Twilight doesn't need Mega Evolution. His companions are strong enough as is. Besides, he doesn't know what kind of stress that could put on his Pokemon. And there's no way in hell he's intentionally hurting his friends. Houndoom doesn't even want to be his friend. He should be fine with that. And so, Twilight will be fine with that. There is no reason to think of it further. 

Twilight shakes his head, placing both pieces back inside. 

....but really, even though he should, is he _really_ fine with that?

He remembers when he first caught Houndoom. The little pup was rescued from a shelter, presumably one housing wild pokemon that had been stolen. Of course, Twilight couldn't help but want to take one in. Besides, he thought it would be wonderful having a new member on the team. Especially another dog like one. He loves fluffy companions. Stella is always so comforting to have around, so why not double the fun? Every single one in that shelter looked scared out of their minds, and he absolutely should've fallen victim to the puppy eyes, but for some reason, he just wasn't feeling it for any of them. If he could, he'd take in every last one of those, but he knows he doesn't have the time or money or skills for that. And so,he'd walked through that building for hours, just wondering who he'd pick. Silence fell across the kennels as the time ticked on, and he could feel that they had given up on him. They most likely knew they weren't being picked today. All he can wish for them now is that they are safe and warm.....

And that's when he found the exact opposite of safe and warm. Which is, Houndoom. Houndour at the time, but heck, he might has well have been his evolved form with how big he was. Definitely not a puppy. Multiple scars. Houndour looked like it came from a pack of Lycanroc or something, he didn't even look like his own species at the time. And Twilight simply had to wonder, _what happened?_ What in the world could he have gone through? Perhaps he is not as scary as he looks - oh, that claim was disproved quickly. Twilight had reached out his hand to try and pat him on the head- gently, of course, he knows that they can be scared easily, and Twilight's height can make him intimidating. His wrist got bit in about a second flat. Holy hell, that _hurts_. 

Weakly, he'd brought up the pokedex entry for Houndour and Houndoom. 

_If you are burned by the flames it shoots from its mouth, the pain will never go away._

Ah, fun.

And he'd just gotten hit by those. 

Twilight recalls with a shudder what injured his left hand. The pain is certainly very diluted now, and his pain tolerance is higher now, but he can still feel it if he tries, especially if he hits it on something. He remembers why he trained himself to be ambidextrous- to build up strength in that hand. He feels the burning sensation tingle again, as if responding to his memory, and he tells himself never to bring that up again. It's better if he doesn't take those bandages off. It's better if he forgets that they exist. It's better if he just forgets. 

He will be fine with this, he reminds himself. He's been fine with it before, he will now, too.

Somehow, by a miracle, Houndour accepted him enough to be added to the team. Stella always tried to make a barrier between them so that he wouldn't get burned again, but Twilight would never wish that she get burned in his place, so he insisted on being closest to him. Houndour - tolerated the others. Tauros, mostly. He cannot stand Samurott, but then again, he is a showoff. All Twilight ever wanted was for everyone to get along. It couldn't possibly be this hard. And so, with determination, he set out to try and be friends with Houndour- and hopefully not get burnt this time. It was during his time with Midna that Houndour evolved - he still remembers the joy he felt in that moment. At least now, Houndoom seems to actually care for his team. He works well in double battles. 

Twilight remembers finding the Keystone and Houndoomite in their raid on Team Power's hideout- Midna explained that Mega Evolution could only be achieved when the bond between a pokemon and trainer is strong, and so he figured he could try it with Stella, but none of his team other than Houndoom seem to be able to Mega Evolve. 

And so, he gave up. Because he doesn't want to force that onto his friend. 

He gives up on this line of thought. Twilight will not think about it anymore. That's what he tells himself.

Does it actually happen? No, are you mad? Twilight is literally the embodiment of an overthinker

That's the first time he'd ever really given up on anything. He's not a quitter, for one, and he does hold grudges for quite a while. It's the first time he'd ever just - moved on. It seems to have become a habit as of late, though. 

He wonders in silence. In silence, yes. Nothing. It's just him out here. 

He doesn't hear the crunching of the snow under his feet because he hasn't moved, really. The birds are quiet. Everyone else is inside, probably having fun by themselves. He doesn't need to interrupt them. Besides, isn't this perfect? He's free, Twilight can do what he wants- but he doesn't like this, somehow. Why isn't this fine anymore? He doesn't like how the wind doesn't blow today. He doesn't like how he can't hear the other children laughing and playing or the rustling of bushes. He doesn't like the fact that there's no storms to listen to today, or flames to watch, or water bubbling, or ringing in his ears, or idle chatter about things he can never hope to dream, or the way the shelter went quiet on that day, or how he couldn't hear Stella breathing in his nightmare, or how he can't hear anything he's supposed to because he's stupid _or_ -

He wants to listen. That's it. He just wants to listen. Anything is more important than his thoughts, so why has thw world stopped for him? Why does he tolerate this? Why, why, even with his extremely toned ears, can he not hear an Arceus damned thing today? He just wants the sound back. He wants the silence to go away. He wants it to _be loud_. He has to be loud, then. He'll just have to be loud. 

And so, finally, to break that ever dreaded silence - Twilight screams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> >:)


	7. A Sticky Note

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Usually people cover their ears when they scream. Not him.

Usually people cover their ears when they scream. Not him.

Twilight wanted to let the sound flood into his mind. It pierced the quiet like a Hyper Beam, filling the world with noise once again. He hears birds flutter off their perches, and he pants afterwards, throat feeling like sandpaper. Good. He can hear. He can _hear_. 

He wasn't in the Hyrule Region before he screamed. He's convinced he was in some alternate world, whatever it may be, but he's back here now, and that's all that matters. He tries to swallow, but the liquid brushes roughly against the sides of his throat and it hurts worse. Arceus, it hurts. But he's feeling now, _living_ now, and everything is back to how it should be. 

He doesn't know how much time passes. He simply stands there, struggling to catch his breath, adjusting to reality once more.

To his surprise, Spirit is the one that rushes to his rescue. The scholar looks scared out his mind. Reasonably so, he did just scream after supposedly having recovered. "TWI!!" He yells, quickly grabbing the brunette's shoulders. "W-what's wrong?!" The tension in the shorter boy's voice hurts him. It hurts him so much. " 's quiet, is all," Was his scrambled reply, voice strained from his soreness. "I- you - hey, hey! Wake up!" Spirit's voice falls through before it reaches him. Twilight faints. 

————

He felt darkness. Darkness, all around. And then, a memory.

_When planning to leave all of society for an indefinite period of time, it is probably a bad idea to only be twelve years old._

_That being said, Twilight was fully intent on doing so._

_For some reason, he seemed to grow disinterested in things. The League members were a very energetic bunch (except Time, Past always called him a stick in the mud, but he still seemed to actually interact more), always heading out to places, talking, sometimes teasing, a few times "I bet I can totally take your spot", but they were all pretty quirky and generally nice. With him becoming the Champion, now there had been a debate about how the elite four should work. Originally it had been Spirit, Windy, Sky and Time. But now that Past had been knocked off his pedestal of ‘champion’ (which honestly, Twilight seemed to grow a disliking to the very term), he was definitely worthy of an Elite Four spot._

_For now Windy and Spirit had been rotating the first position, since they were brothers, and didn't really care which one of them would have it. They were just happy that their brother was a part of the League anyways. Past took the final one._

_He, for one, was /not/ talkative._

_Well, okay, that's stretching it, since he talked to tons of people back on his journey, and he liked talking to people, but Arceus he was terrible at it. Second off, their conversations were just so... normal? He never understood how some people could just instantly speak their mind about anything. Sky usually said something about how he was going to practice for his next contest (Master Rank, of course, Sky was excellent at them) and Spirit would offer to help with the dressup, Time and Windy would try their hand at crafting something and handled most of the professional stuff (though, they were anything /but/ professional), and Past usually made jokes and laid back most of the time._

_Third, battling. Battling was the /one/ thing he was sure he was good at. Talking? Definitive no. Making friends? There was constant panic, but mostly okay. Cooking? Only simple stuff. And contests? He'd never been to one, but from what he'd seen, he was /absolutely/ never trying out for one. Not because he didn't like the idea, but it was a recipe for a panic attack. But when he battled? There was a connection, a feeling, and he was in some inordinate focus every time. He could tell when his Pokémon needed to switch or heal or use a certain move, and if there was one thing the Champion title certified, it was that you were a very, very good battler._

_Now, though? Battling just felt.. off. There was no passion in it anymore. Nothing exciting, nothing that made him enter that state of focus and determination anymore. It wasn't required, really. It was just muscle memory anymore. It wasn't fun anymore._

_There was this puzzle, a puzzle of his emotions, feelings - his life, really - and something, maybe someone, had taken out a piece. And now that the puzzle was incomplete, nothing felt right._

_And so, Twilight was going to leave._

_It was a ridiculously early hour in the morning, 1 to be precise, just after midnight. Even Time wasn't up this early, and Sky was going to be asleep for a /long/ time, as per usual. Sky could sleep for a whole week if his mornings were any indicator. Windy and Spirit shared their room, and they were the only ones with a normal sleep scedhule here. Past was a bit of a night owl, and he'd stayed awake for a while (supposedly binging something, and he was trying in vain to get Time into it), but had been asleep for a few hours now._

_Twilight was fully dressed and awake at this ungodly hour, going through drawers like they held the diffusion for a bomb._

_Of course, he'd already packed everything he needed, he'd always done that ahead of time. It was simply habit to triple check for him. Luckily no one had noticed the duffle bag and backpack in his room, since those usually were there. Except this time it wasn't holding just potions and extra pokeballs along with the other stuff he'd picked up along his journey, this time it had about three months worth of food, water, and other supplies. It was like when Rusl helped to pack for when he first set off on his journey._

_And the only person that could change his mind now wasn't really a person - it was his team. After being sure to grab everything from his bedroom, he made his way into the hallway. There was no need to be quiet, since he knew the League had a habit of waking up during the night and grabbing some water before heading back to bed, and they'd all learned to ignore it, but he still walked slowly in order to not be a disruption. Entering the small plaza they had for a living room, he scanned the area. The first time he'd came here, it looked so big and airy. Boy, the second the League came here it got about 75% messier. Spirit and Windy usually cleaned, and Twilight chipped in sometimes, but they spent most of their time here and it showed. Especially after their nightly ritual of Time and Past going head to head on their Wii. Even Twilight was excited for this._

_He walked past the mess of pillows and blankets on the couch, being sure to pick up a sticky note from their place on the counter. Twilight couldn't leave without saying something to them. It was easier to write it. But what to say...? Honestly, there's no way to phrase "I'm about to go entirely off the radar for who knows how long" /lightly/, so he just emitted most of it._

_Written in his usual ultra neat print, not able to finish his name before he started to notice tears building. That alone forced his hand from the paper. He had to leave /now/, before he would have the chance to regret it. And he knew he would. Twilight headed outside to the patio, taking out his six party members. Stella, Rapidash, Braviary, Tauros, Sammurott, and Houndoom. Everyone is here._

_"We're about to leave. I don't know how long it'll be, or if we'll come back. So...I'm telling you now, if you want to leave me, then... go ahead. I'm not going to force you to come with me. I'm probably a terrible trainer, but I'm not heartless. I'm sorry, buddies, but I just can't —" Twilight didn't get to finish his speech, because every single one of his team proceeded to reply an affirmative "Yes, you idiot-" and then Houndoom physically /glared/ at him for asking such a stupid question. Houndoom, out of everyone. The one that had disagreed with him at every turn._

_"....Thank you, guys." The smile that followed was probably one of the biggest he'd ever had, though it was so simple. Carly always smiled,and /big/, too, but seeing him do a grin like hers was a rare occurrence. Twilight moved to go in for a hug, but Stella came first and knocked the air out of him with the tackle hug that followed._

_And so, the crew set out for a below freezing mountain. Together, this time._

"You know, only leaving us a sticky note was kind of cruel, big brother."

Spirit. Spirit's voice was the first thing he heard. 

He was in his room - rather, Sky's room as of now - on the bed. The scholar was seated with his back facing him on the other side. Big brother. That's what he was to him. To Spirit. Spirit already had a big brother, so the luxury of being his second one was something that Twilight was sure he did not deserve. And to think he's driven his little brother to such lengths. To the point where one of the kindest souls he knows is calling him cruel. Twilight just wants to go back to sleep and stay asleep. He's only made their lives more complex than he could ever know, and a child, a _child_ , Spirit is fifteen, a year older than him - should not have to deal with a complex life. Has he ever actually stopped and thought about the pressure that must be on them? Thousands of eyes across the Hyrule Region landing on them across thousands of screens in thousands of households. It must be crushing. It must be deafening. Sure, he had a bad experience with that too, but that didn't justify anything of what he did. He didn't have to humor them with his worthless problems. And to make matters worse, the League always seemed to care. They were always there for him. And what does he leave them with, when he dissappears without a trace? A sticky note. An Arceus damned sticky note. Twilight wants to die in a fire, or better yet, in the freezing cold, just so nature can spite him. 

Why is he always so consistently _stupid_?

"I apologize, that was out of line," Spirit gasps softly, apologizing. "No. You're right. You're absolutely correct." Twilight offers shakily. "You were outside for too long. The cold was getting to you. I'm actually glad you screamed - it allowed me to get there before it got worse. You should be fine," Spirit reports. Ah. Makes sense. He didn't even realize it - perhaps he's just become so numb to the cold that he couldn't see that he was hurting himself?

"I don't think I deserve to be fine anymore, Spirit." He shook his head lightly. "Don't say that." The scholar turned around, worried. "When you say stuff like that - you - you scare me." He's crying. There are tears, tears, he reminds himself, in Spirit's eyes. He has never even seen the boy feel sadness before, and here he is, crying. "It won't happen again." He's going to make sure that Spirit never has to cry again. "I - I just thought that, when you left, that it was just a quick leave of absence. We all need breaks. And...and so I waited, I waited for you to come back for a whole week but we never got any messages and Windy wanted to know where you were. But I couldn't- I couldn't say anything because I was still waiting on you and I didn't - I didn't _know_ -" - hitched breaths echo through every stutter, and it hurts, and it hurts, "- And I showed him the note and he - he panicked. I didn't know what I was supposed to do! Everyone else was yelling about how I should've told them sooner and how - how Rusl was so worried and I- I'm so sorry, Twi! I wasn't strong enough!" 

Drops stain the cover of the well worn book at his side. Twilight feels as if when Spirit lets go of that book then he will simply shatter. So he doesn't move, to keep the scene stable. "Please don't apologize." Twilight winces. The words. Those three, simple sentences accompanied by a rushed signature. Those words shattered their lives. But he can't erase what he wrote in ink, can he?

_"Going away for a while. I'm sorry. Don't worry about me." -Twi._

They echo through the far corners of his mind, lingering at the back of his thoughts. 

"I couldn't help you," Spirit sobs. "I didn't need help." "You're a liar." "And you are very consistently correct about everything you say about me." Twilight sighs. "I- I need a hug." Spirit physically shivers. "You're right about that one too." He smiles, pulling the scholar in for an embrace. 

A sticky note was all it took to break the Hyrule Region for two years straight. 

He's never using those damned glue tab papers again for the rest of his life.


	8. Miss Callisto?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The new Champion makes an intriguing desicion.

The Callisto Family. 

Migrating from their originating region of Hoenn, a chance encounter sparked a lifelong change. Daughter to Battle Frontier Brain Vevera, Nadetta Callisto and her brother Dimitri study in an obscure region called Hyrule. There they meet miss Eshana Parker - a tour guide at the time, strange as that might look now. And after that, well, the rest is history. As far as Twilight is concerned, that's as deep as it goes.

At least, that's what he thinks. Until one day, she tells him.

"Hey, do you remember that time you ran off into the woods?"

"Recently, yes."

Once Sky figured out about his hypothermia, he put him on strict bed rest. Something about 'warming him up like the Sun until he's ready to shine again'. It's a cute metaphor, and he's probably alluding to his girlfriend, but that doesn't help with the problem that he doesn't know what any of that _means_.

Luckily, he's been allowed to stay on Carly's couch again. He doesn't know if he can handle being in his room again, but he'd rather not take the risk. The seasons are shifting once again - soon it'll be spring, and boy, he knows he isn't ready for that. Just thinking about the rebirth of all the flowers and the leaves and how the town will look _exactly_ how it did the last time he visited makes his head spin. Which brings him back to the topic of the woods. It's almost eerie how little Carly has mentioned his mountain stay ever since they had that conversion, but it's good that he doesn't have to try to talk about it anymore with how he's feeling. The next dialogue intrigues him. "Did you, uh, find anything?" She blinked, motioning with her hands. Carly always seems to be moving, whether it be subtle or not. 

He can see the lead pencil flipping around in her hand as she looks back between her sketchbook and himself. He does have to admit- being able to draw while keeping up a conversation is one skill he never expected to see, but here we are. "I don't...think so? I apologize- I just kinda ran." Twilight shrugged. That's a weird question to ask. Usually you don't find things within the Lost Woods unless you get really lost, and he wasn't that far in. "Ah. Thank you." She almost has a sigh of relief, but it's also laced with sadness. Disappointment? Who knows. All he wants is to help in any way he can though. "If you don't mind me asking, what's that?" He looks over at the page, and Carly has the artistic instinct to slam the sketchbook shut. Twilight has seen this happen before. Well, that's okay. He doesn't have to know. Besides, it's her works. 

"It's about," she pauses, and he gasps softly, not expecting an explanation. "A thing I found. In the woods, I mean." 

Huh. That's strange.

Carly's hands are shaking and he doesn't know how to feel about that. Slowly, she pulls up a string of golden beads, and at the end is a locket. Upon opening it, the forms of a mother and father are there in sepia tone, and on the opposite side, is what he presumes to be Carly. She's hardly even two years old in the photo, so it's hard to tell, but he'd know that simple blonde hairstyle anywhere. "This is.....?" Twilight blinks, not understanding. He wishes he did. "My parents. Not Mama and Mama, though." She shakes her head. Oh. Oh.

"I'm sorry." That's all he can offer. "You don't need to be. I'm not sad." Carly sighs. "You aren't?" He asks. "I'm _pissed,_ Twi." Angry? Why? Wait, is that even possible? Sure, he's seen her angry before, but that was more worry than anything. And he's certainly never seen her openly state her intense rage. That's just not how she is - right?

"I knew those two weren't my actual parents. They told me, and I understood. But now...now that I'm seeing this? Nothing makes sense at all." She pulls her knees to her chest. "Think about it, Twi. These two people - whoever they were - cared about me. They raised me. And then they just left? I don't get it. I don't even want to look for them, but if I did, all I would ask would be why." Carly huffs, obviously fed up with this concept. "I hate them, Twi. They're my parents and I hate them. No - these two in this photo- those aren't my parents." She places both hands on her head. 

"Hey, hey, it's okay. You're upset." Twilight tried to comfort her. "I'm more than just upset! I'm furious! What makes them think they have the right to leave a kid out in the woods?!" She shot up from her seat, turning back to him. "Honestly! You'd think that the people I got my brain from would be more sensible, but no!" That's obvious sarcasm, but she's so angry that it doesn't sound satire. "I think your current parents are a better fit. Nadetta has that fiery heart, and Eshana has the wonderful mind." He chuckles lightly. "You're damn right!" She crosses his arms. "Well, screw them and my original last name. I'm a Callisto now." Carly breathes deeply, calming herself down. 

Twilight almost sighs in relief - at least the tenseness of that moment is gone. It's so unnatural for her. 

"I watched Sky's Contest battle yesterday! The setup with Lofty's clouds was amazing - I need to try it sometime with Silicono," She perks up again, and now it's back to normal. "How was it seeing it in person?" Carly smiles. Oh. That. Uh...he's not sure he has an answer. "It was very - Sky-y." Arceus, that's the stupidest answer he's ever heard. "It was! He always has this personal flair with the air- hehe - that I'm trying to manage with my water and ice types." She even manages to rhyme in her sentences! How does she speak so well?

"Although, Opal and Silicono always seem to fight over who gets the better part. It's more like a pokemon battle than a contest when I put them together." She sighs. "Do any of your team fight like that? Sometimes it's hard managing a family of six - well, seven, but six at a time." Carly asks, and that strikes a chord for him. Do they fight...? Honestly, he's not sure. Houndoom is somewhat rude to him, but he deserves it. It's not a fight, he decides. He simply takes it without reprimanding him. "No. They get along fine," He nods. 

"Lucky." Carly huffs. What? Did he say something wrong? Was that not the right answer? Arceus, he can never know. 

"Oh." That's all he can offer.

"I wonder when the league is gonna have to go." Carly looks up, almost nervously. "I'm not sure. They'll have to take their time sorting out the league positions now, though. There's six candidates for the spots, and only five can go in. One of them will have to leave, since you'll be the new champion." He explained. "Yeah....I wish they could all have a spot. It won't be the same with one of them not there." She sighed. "I didn't think about that." Right. One of them will have to say goodbye. 

He wonders about that. Sky would gladly give his up, and it'd give him more time to pursue contests and whatever is happening with Miss Sun. But he is one of the older members - the second to join after Time. Would they take away someone with such battle prowess as him? It'd be foolish.

Time is the founder of the Hyrule Pokemon League. There isn't a chance. The whole place would fall apart, were it not for his guidance. And he's most certainly the strongest. Twilight barely won that battle, and even then, he sensed that Time might've been holding back. 

Past was the first to become champion. Even with his current losing streak to himself, Windy, Carly, and him again, he is completely unpredictable. He could pull a sudden strength out of nowhere. And he knows exactly what he's doing. They wouldn't give up their wild card, he supposes. 

Windy was originally the second place in the rankings, but he became the temporary Champion. He really grew. And the fact that he was able to keep up the part for the whole two years that he was gone is extraordinary. Calm and reliable. Not him, either. 

Spirit. Why does it have to be Spirit?

He is a wonderful trainer, no doubt, and has a great connection with his team. He's better at setting up status conditions, predictions, and special attacks than anyone else. He can translate ancient text and is an excellent communicator. Truly a mythic boy. But, if you see through all the magic with brute force, then you can beat him. It takes a clear mind that cannot be swayed. Perhaps that is why he has never gotten past the first position in the Elite Four?

Arceus. He hates thinking about this. Spirit _just_ comforted him the other day. He has such a strong will, and he tries his hardest. But in the end, isn't he still just a child? Aren't they all little kids? Wouldn't it be better to live his life away from all of this? And grow up normally? Twilight thinks that he should walk the same path. Away from the limelight. 

What the hell is he doing, thinking for them? It's going to be their decision, not his.

"Which is why I'm allowing them both." Carly laughs. 

Wait, what?

"You....you can do that?" Twilight asks, baffled. "Of course I can. I'm the Champion now. What I say goes, and I say that Windy and Spirit both stay." She smirks.

"Then who's leaving?" Twilight raises an eyebrow. "None of them." Carly crosses her arms proudly. "How?" He'll admit, he's interested, but this is quite impulsive for such an important decision. He needs to know if it'll work out in the end. "Windy and Spirit can rotate." She explains. That's the current system. Neither of them mind not having the full position, but in the long term, it may cause problems. "What if someone doesn't want to battle the one currently in the spot?" Twilight counters with the obvious. "Then they're gonna have to deal with it. Both of them are equally formidable. They'll lose against either one anyways." She chuckles. "And besides, that's a mean opinion to have, so they're stupid, too." Carly finishes explaining. Well yes, it is, but some people _are_ mean, and if they are to keep their reputation-

"You're doubting this, aren't you?" Carly looks at him. "Yes! Because it won't work!" He sighs. 

"How do you know that, Twi?" She questions. "Every line of reasonable thought says so! It'll fall apart in the long run!" Twilight urges. "So what if it will? We'll fix it when it becomes a problem. Are you saying that this isn't reasonable?" She's not even angry, just curious. And she is so, _so_ confusing.

"It's just - just that - no other league has tried this before! There's nothing to base it on! And this is something that we, as the leaders, a-aren't allowed to mess up on!" Twilight explains. "Twilight. We, as _people_ , are allowed to mess up whatever we want. Isn't that our nature?" Carly smiles. Why is she so hard to argue with? It shouldn't be this difficult! Miss Callisto is both three years younger than him and literally just became Champion one month ago - he's been dealing with it for - well....actually, only six months. And he handled it horribly. Actually, he probably should listen to this. 

"I- I- _mmngh,_ " The brunette grumbles, pulling his hat over his head so the brim can hide his face. "I win! Free Reign!!" Carly laughs suddenly, pumping both fists in the air. Twilight instantly jumps out of his seat to stop her from implanting another confusing rule. "Nononono- you do NOT have free reign." He waves both hands. "Ah. You're equally stubborn. Right." She sighs. "I'm not stubborn?" He's confused. "Mhm, mhm. Anyways, you're going to tell me that the League and the Gym Leaders have to approve of this, right?" Carly does not explain further on the stubborn part and does also not deliberate on how she suddenly acquired mind reading in the past two years. 

"Yes?" Twilight offers hesitantly. "Suprise! I already checked, and they're down for it." She smiles proudly. 

"You WHAT." The child's mouth gapes open, and Carly goes on some rant about how she was thinking about this for ages while he was having those misadventures with Sky, Luto, Quill, and Spirit. And she somehow managed to finesse her way into convincing all thirteen people she needed to in the span of around two weeks. Even though they're nearly grown now, she amazes him almost every day. He doesn't know why he hasn't just come to accept it yet. He knows he isn't going to win against the sheer force of optimism that is Carly. So why does he deny it still? Perhaps they balance eachother. Who knows, Twilight's too confused to make a coherent thought right about now.

"Actually, that's why I brought it up. There is one more person I need to convince, and he's the hardest of all." Carly tells him. "Who?" Twilight hasn't figured it out yet, a testament to his current confused state. "About your height. Wears green, and a hat. Blue eyes. Stubborn. Has problems with mountains." That sounds too familiar for comfort. He's almost afraid to ask. "Can I get a name?" He tilts his head. The blonde starts wheezing from laughing, leaning over to catch her breath. "Oh, oh my Arceus. Twi? Twi, do you not get it?" Carly looks up at him. "AM I SUPPOSED TO???" He squints. 

"It's you, Twi. I need your approval." 

........

_In hindsight,_ Twilight thinks, _I am probably stupid._

"You need _my_ approval?" That one is the most baffling part. If Twilight knows anything about Carly, it's that she will get the things she wants to do done, whether you like it or not. If she feels the need to subject you to a lecture about an obscure art technique, then guess what, you're getting lectured. Honestly. He doesn't even know why he's the last one to get asked. Surely it would be better to get the stubborn ones out of the way quickly? It's so strange. 

"Yes." Carly nods simply.

"Uh, why?" Twilight shrugs, and he's probably been giving the thousand yard stare for the past five minutes. 

"Is it not obvious?" "If it was, I probably wouldn't ask." "Touche." 

"Well," She sways on her feet. "You're the previous Champion, for one. You know how the League works far better than I do - you lived with the guys for half a year. So you're pretty reasonable as a choice." Carly explains. "But I don't hold that position anymore. I don't have any input." Twilight shakes his head. "I wasn't done," She pauses, supposedly pondering the rest of her sentence. 

"It's because - you're a better person than me."

"You're quite wrong there, if I'm being honest." He sighs. "I'm being serious." She flashed the Serious Face. Oh. So she is. "You're incredible in battle, and you always did way better on tests and can remember anything, and you're always so nice and you truly want the best for others - you don't even consider yourself, you have that much humility. Even though it'd be better from a health standpoint if you took care of yourself, and that hurts, because you're doing wonderful things but you lose yourself in the process. Yet...I can't speak on that front." Carly rants, explaining it all in the exact same words that he would use to describe her. That's strange. 

"I always lose my temper, and I'm a crybaby, and I get too excited, and then sometimes I'm far too dull. I don't have your consistency, or your mind, or the ability to be as organized, or any of that." She's sad. Admitting those flaws must've taken years of courage, potentially another regret of hers.

_I'm boiling with rage inside, and I'm a monster for it. I can't believe how impulsive I am - and I cry at every lat thing. No one cares about the things I'm passionate about, so they must be unimportant. I suppress everything to make them happy but then I am told that I am a husk. There is no constant for my emotions. I get confused easily. My things are a mess. I'm nothing like you._

The exact same confession forms in his mind, never to be spoken, but it rings true in his ears. Perhaps, it somehow reached her as well?

Carly lifts her chin, smiling brightly. "Is that a yes, Twi?"

"Of course, you dork."

"That's YOUR nickname!'

"Not anymore!"

The room is filled with childish laughter. Previous topics are almost forgotten in the whirlwind of talking. Quill comes to join them, bringing hot cocoa, and eventually Luto jumps out from behind the couch, scaring all of them out of their wits. Meaningless words are exchanged, but Twilight remembers all of them. He feels like time could simply stop, and they could just stay here together, as friends - as they were always meant to be. How he wished to be younger, so that he would become unaware of the cruel flow of time. How he wished he could redo it all. 

But that's okay, because life is giving him a second chance.

He gets one do over, and if he messes this up, then well- he'll think about that if and when it happens. Oh. That's exactly what Carly would say. Funny.

He heads to lay down for the night, pulling the blanket over his shoulders as he rolls to the back of the couch. He's gotten quite used to sleeping on couches. Twilight almost wonders if he'll adapt to sleeping in a bed again. The lights are dim, except for the flash of the television. The throw around him is absurdly soft, and he quite likes it, if not for how it makes him feel somewhat ticklish. 

It's the **strangest feeling**.

Why did they accept him? Why does he feel like he has any right to be comfortable, lying on a plush couch, in the same home that he destroyed? Why is it okay for him to not have to apologize? Is there nothing for him to be sorry for? What did he do wrong - please, tell him, he wants to know, so he can say sorry! He pulls closer on the blanket, sweat starting to form on his forehead. 

And with that familiar feeling of warmth, he starts to **reminisce**. 

The sun on his skin. Far above the clouds. Free and away from that dreaded cold. Does he deserve to feel safe and warm like that again? Together with the people he disappointed, laughing as they fly into the atmosphere?

"You could have _died_ , Twilight. I thought that would be - important. For you." 

It was important. By Arceus, it was important. He could have died. Perhaps he did. Maybe he lost something on that mountain, and perhaps that something was better left behind. He had clutched onto it for so long, and he cared about it, but he let it go. And that made it possible to **begin again**. To start over. He's going to make it count this time.

They all cared, didn't they? They all cared all along! He was so blind to it! Time, Sky, Windy, Spirit, and....Past. **The First Champion.**. Past could've hated him. He was a child, a little kid, who took over the spot of the man who was nearly mythic. He had every reason to hate him. But Past cared. He treated him like a brother. They all did. They were...family.

Isn't that **good for you**?

That's what Luto would say. He never had a real family. And Twilight has a whole region that cares. Luto lived in the shadows. Barely scraped by. Was hated and torn down. Isn't this good enough for Twilight? He's already taken far too much. Maybe he's asking for a lot.

The room is filled with **silence**. He scarcely breathes, simply lost in thought. Left alone to his own devices causes nothing to be present except for him, which he cannot tolerate. The silence leaves him to think. And his thoughts are the most terrifying being he knows. He does not want to be alone with them. He wants noise, people, anything to distract him from that. Just give him something! 

Twilight rolls over again, and the blanket almost makes a crumbling sound, like **a sticky note**.

Oh, of course he jumped to that comparison. Just like he jumped to conclusions that day. It was supposed to be a simple message, written off quickly. How could that break the hearts of so many? He didn't know. He didn't know. How could he have known? He can't blame himself for that, right? It's not his fault. It's not his fault that all it took was a sticky note to break the Hyrule Region. It's not his fault. It's not his fault. 

That's what **Miss Callisto** would say, hm?

"Psst." There's a voice that isn't inside his head. A soft hand prods at him from outside his cocoon of blankets. "Wh..?" He blinks, looking over his shoulder. It's - considerably brighter. Did he pass out? "Preparations have been made, sleepyhead." She chuckles. "For what?" He sits up groggily. "Vacation, obviously!" Carly nods. 

Twilight thinks that this is going to be a wild ride.

Four hours later, he is on a plane set for the Alola Region. 

.....he thinks, he thinks he's found it.

The atonement he'd been looking for all along. The solution to his lonliness. 

It was right here, the whole time.

Twilight scoffs at himself as clouds pass him by. How could he possibly be this dense?

All the support he needed was available to him from the start. 

There is no atonement needed, because there was never any sin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOO BOY WE FINISHED!!  
> Thank you for going along this wild ride. I hope it was okay. First time actually finishing an ao3 fic, so wow. This feels weird. Anyways, hello! If you somehow want more of this, fret not, because a Alola Vacation story will be coming soon, filled with even more softness.
> 
> I really enjoyed writing these. It was a great time to try and study Twilight and interact with other characters. I'm surprised this many people are interested in my AU. You might see more of it soon. 
> 
> Just overall, I hope I created a entertaining narrative. I've worked hard to make these characters, and I'm glad I got to put them to use. Thank you for the comments and kudos! I'll keep being my usual dork self, but it may take awhile before another fic pops up. 
> 
> \- Sincerely, Riju


End file.
